Ozempic and Similar Drugs Linked to Fewer Psychiatric Hospitalisations in Bipolar Disorder

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) — a class of drugs that includes semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy — are already widely used to treat diabetes and support weight loss. New research from Griffith University in Australia suggests the drugs may also have a mental health benefit, particularly for people with bipolar disorder, a mental illness in which a person's mood swings between periods of extreme high energy, called mania, and severe depression. Diabetes, obesity and bipolar disorder often occur together and may share some underlying biological mechanisms, the researchers said.

Researchers led by Professor Mark Taylor from Griffith's School of Medicine and Dentistry analysed nationwide Swedish health data covering nearly 15,000 people with bipolar disorder who had been prescribed GLP-1 medications over a 15-year period, from 2009 to 2024. They found that people with bipolar disorder taking semaglutide had significantly lower rates of psychiatric hospitalisation compared with periods when they were not taking a GLP-1 medicine. Semaglutide use was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of psychiatric hospitalisation, according to the study, published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.

The pattern was not seen across the whole drug class, however. Two other GLP-1 medications, liraglutide and dulaglutide, were not associated with a reduced risk of hospitalisation, suggesting any mental health benefit may not extend to every drug in the class. The researchers suggest GLP-1 signalling could help protect the brain by reducing inflammation and cellular stress linked to bipolar disorder, potentially contributing to greater mood stability, though this remains a hypothesis rather than a confirmed mechanism.

Professor Taylor said he hopes the findings will now be tested in a randomised controlled trial, which would provide stronger evidence on whether semaglutide itself can improve psychiatric outcomes in people with bipolar disorder. According to the World Health Organization's latest estimate, about one in 200 people worldwide, or roughly 37 million people, live with bipolar disorder.