Expert review of clinical pharmacologyOct 21, 2024

Semaglutide and quitting smoking in people with type 2 diabetes

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 74 studies found a 20.8% prevalence of smoking among individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Chronic hyperglycemia and cigarette smoke exposure may have additive harmful effects on blood vessel health in individuals with T2DM.
Semaglutide use is associated with a lower risk for medical encounters related to tobacco use disorders compared to other antidiabetic medications.
The protective effect of semaglutide on tobacco use disorders appears strongest when compared to insulin treatments.
Semaglutide may lead to fewer prescriptions for smoking cessation medications and less counseling for quitting smoking.
These findings suggest potential benefits of semaglutide for smoking cessation in individuals with T2DM, warranting further large-scale studies.

Simplified

Tobacco use represents the leading preventable risk factor for premature deaths worldwide. A meta-analysis of 74 epidemiological studies, including 3.2 million individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from 33 countries, reported a pooled prevalence of smoking of 20.8% among individuals with T2DM. Cigarette smoking further aggravates existing deleterious vascular effects of T2DM. Namely, chronic hyperglycemia and exposure to cigarette smoke cause additive injurious effect on the endothelium, leading to an acceleration of vascular complications seen in persons with T2DM and tobacco use disorders (TUD). In a recent study, Wang and colleagues found that semaglutide use was associated with a significantly lower risk for medical encounters for TUD, when compared to other antidiabetic drug classes; indeed, this effect was strongest compared with insulins and weakest compared with other glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. Semaglutide was associated with reduced smoking cessation medication prescriptions and counseling. Similar findings were observed irrespective of the presence of obesity. Therefore, semaglutide use might be useful in terms of smoking cessation among individuals with T2DM, thus offering an additional benefit for this constantly growing population. However, those interesting findings should be confirmed through dedicated, large-scale randomized controlled trials.

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Semaglutide and quitting smoking in people with type 2 diabetes

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