GLP-1 medications used to treat diabetes and obesity were associated with a reduced need for hospital care and sickness absence due to psychiatric reasons, a new study shows. The large register-based study was carried out in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and Griffith University in Australia.

Diabetes and obesity are associated with an increased risk of mental health symptoms, and similarly, individuals with mental disorders have an elevated risk of metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Researchers have long been interested in the connections between these conditions and in how pharmacological treatments may affect both metabolic and mental health disorders.

The present study included nearly 100,000 participants, more than 20,000 of whom had used GLP-1 medications. Participants were followed through Swedish national registers between 2009 and 2022. The study’s findings were published in The Lancet Psychiatry.