“Substantial Decrease in Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms Secondary to Semaglutide Therapy for Weight Loss: A Case Series”, 2023-11-27 ():
Preclinical findings and anecdotal reports suggest that semaglutide might be an effective treatment for alcohol use disorder.
In this case series, semaglutide therapy was associated with marked reductions in scores on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT).
At follow-up, all 6 patients (100%) had AUDIT scores consistent with “low-risk” drinking.
Objective: Despite being a major cause of preventable death worldwide, alcohol use disorder (AUD) currently has only 3 FDA-approved pharmacotherapies. The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) semaglutide has shown promise in preclinical studies for reducing alcohol consumption, but there are currently no randomized clinical trials that associate a decline in AUD symptoms with semaglutide use. This case series presents 6 patients with positive AUD screenings who were treated with semaglutide for weight loss. All subsequently exhibited statistically-significant improvement in AUD symptoms.
Method: Retrospective chart review was used to identify patients treated with semaglutide for weight loss who also had positive screenings for AUD on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT; score > 8 considered positive) prior to initiation of semaglutide therapy. 6 patients were identified who met these criteria. A paired t-test was used to compare initial AUDIT scores with AUDIT scores after initiation of semaglutide therapy.
Results: All 6 identified patients (100%) had statistically-significant reduction in AUD symptomatology based on AUDIT score improvement following treatment with semaglutide (mean decrease of 9.5 points, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: This case series is consistent with preclinical data and suggests that GLP-1RAs have strong potential in the treatment of AUD. Additional randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies are needed to fully assess the efficacy of semaglutide in treating AUD.