THURSDAY, July 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor use is associated with a lower risk for dementia in older adults with mood and psychotic disorders, according to a study published online June 30 in JAMA Network Open.
David T. Liebers, M.D., from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined whether treatment with SGLT2 inhibitors is associated with a reduced risk for incident dementia and other neuropsychiatric outcomes in patients with psychiatric disorders in a cohort study using a target trial emulation design and data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs databases. Participants were aged 65 years or older with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
The sample included 112,725 individuals (median age, 74.1 years; 92.8 percent men), 6.8 percent of whom were exposed to an SGLT2 inhibitor. The researchers found that SGLT2 inhibitor use was associated with reduced odds of all-cause dementia and psychiatric emergency department (PED) visits, but not psychiatric hospitalizations in the intention-to-treat analysis. SGLT2 inhibitor use was associated with lower odds of all-cause dementia and psychiatric hospitalizations, but not PED visits in the per-protocol analysis.
"These findings support the hypothesis of shared metabolic vulnerability across psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases," the authors write. "Further investigation is warranted of SGLT2 inhibitors as potential transdiagnostic treatment options in individuals with high-risk psychiatric disorders."
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
