Weight-loss drugs could help improve two common health issues
New studies suggest weight-loss drugs could help improve two common health conditions, with researchers reporting fewer asthma flare-ups and reduced use of migraine medication among some patients.
Experts said people taking the drugs experienced a drop in asthma exacerbations and relied less on inhalers.
Another study linked Wegovy to fewer prescriptions for migraine medication among women using the drug for weight loss.
The findings, presented at the European Congress on Obesity, add to growing evidence that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) drugs may offer benefits beyond weight loss.
Advert
One study linked Wegovy to a reduction in prescriptions for a type of migraine medication.
Researchers examined Danish health registry data from 2022 to 2024, covering 150,000 people who started taking Wegovy.
Among them, around 6,800 had received a prescription for migraine medication in the year before beginning weight-loss treatment.
The study found that women with a history of migraine who used Wegovy for weight management saw a 7% reduction in the use of triptan-class migraine drugs one year after starting treatment.
Researchers said the use of migraine medication gradually declined after women began taking Wegovy.
However, it's important to note that the effect was only observed in women.
The authors concluded: "The study suggests that initiation of semaglutide is associated with a gradual reduction in triptan use during the first year after initiation among women."
In a separate study, researchers from Denmark analysed health registry data from 27,523 people who had been prescribed both GLP-1 medicines for obesity or type 2 diabetes and asthma inhalers.
They found GLP-1 use was linked to a 26% reduction in asthma exacerbations and a 14% drop in use of reliever inhalers.
The authors concluded: "In this nationwide cohort of over 27,000 individuals with asthma and also overweight, obesity or type 2 diabetes, use of GLP-1 drugs was associated with significant reductions in exacerbation burden as well as reliever use, exposure to inhaled corticosteroids and pneumonia events, irrespective of whether the drugs were being used to treat obesity or type 2 diabetes."
Dr Kjell Erik Julius Hakansson, one of the study authors from Copenhagen University Hospital, said: "There is a high chance that the weight loss is a major contributor to these results.
"A common symptom in both asthma and obesity is shortness of breath, and the presence of excess fatty tissue creates a pro-inflammatory state in the body in general.
"There’s also evidence from other studies suggesting that the inflammation caused by excess adipose tissue is distinct from the ‘classic’ asthma inflammation, which often is driven by allergies or cells called eosinophils.
"As the use of GLP-1 therapies increase, researchers are finding an increasing number of effects outside of weight loss."
Rhiannon Ingle