Diabetes drugs offer new hope for Aussies with dementia

Promising research published in the JAMA Neurology finds newer diabetes drugs, including Ozempic, are linked to lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Alzheimer disease and related dementias are characterised by a progressive decline in brain function.

It's a leading cause of disability worldwide and second leading cause of death in Australians, projected to affect about 75 million people worldwide and by 2030 and 812,000 Australians by 2054.

A US study has found a link between patients taking classes of drugs, including the Ozempic-related glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), and glucose-lowering drugs known as SGLT2is, with lower rates of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

The retrospective study looking at data from almost 400,000 patients over the age of 50 between 2014 to June 2023 suggests these medications possibly played a role in preventing the diseases in people with type-2 diabetes.

GLP-1RAs are associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of disease, while SGLT2i users had a 43 per cent lower risk compared with older blood glucose lowering drugs.

The drugs have been shown to reduce inflammation and improve the brain's insulin signalling abilities, according to the study.

But it warns the findings should be view cautiously given short follow up periods and further studies are needed to confirm the relationship.

A second Irish study, which looked the results from 23 clinical trials involving more than 160,000 participants found GLP-1RAs, but not SGLT2is, were associated with a reduction in dementia diseases.

"While cardioprotective glucose-lowering therapies were not associated with an overall reduction in all-cause dementia, this meta-analysis ... found that glucose lowering with GLP-1RAs was associated with a statistically significant reduction in all-cause dementia," the study said.

But it said large randomised clinical trials are needed to address optimal glucose-lowering therapy in patients with dementia.

These studies come after research from Wales found older adults who received a shingles vaccine were 20 per cent less likely to develop dementia in the seven years that followed vaccination than those who did not receive the vaccine.

Australian Associated Press