Weight-Loss Medication May Help People Quit Smoking: Study

Weight-loss medications may help people quit smoking, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed the medical records of more than 200,000 people who started medications to treat type 2 diabetes, including almost 6,000 people who used semaglutide medications such as Ozempic, CNN reports.

Over one year, people who started using semaglutide were much less likely to see a health care provider for tobacco use disorder, receive a prescription for medications for smoking cessation or receive counseling for smoking cessation, compared to those who started using other medications for diabetes such as metformin and insulin.

There could be many reasons a person might be less likely to seek medical treatment for tobacco use disorder, the study authors note. For example, it could suggest that their tobacco use decreased, or that they became less willing to seek help for quitting smoking.

Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a co-author of the study, said understanding how semaglutide affects these factors is crucial to establishing whether the medication could be used to help people quit smoking. Researchers also need to determine the best dosage and whether there are adverse effects before doctors start prescribing the medications for smoking cessation, she said.