Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound might help protect people from health risks related to sleep apnea, a new study says.
Type 2 diabetes patients taking GLP-1 drugs were overall less likely to die within the next year, but those with sleep apnea did even better, researchers reported Monday at a meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.
"We observed one-year mortality in patients with type two diabetes who were prescribed GLP-1RAs to be substantially lower than patients not prescribed GLP-1RAs, with a disproportionate benefit observed in those also diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea," lead researcher Dr. Cosmo Fowler, a sleep medicine physician at Piedmont health system in Atlanta, said in a news release.
The results support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision in December 2024 to approve Zepbound (tirzepetide) as the first drug to treat sleep apnea in adults with obesity.
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