Data Links GLP-1 With Fewer Asthma Attacks, Lower Psychiatric Risk

Semaglutide, the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist marketed as Ozempic and Wegovy for type 2 diabetes and weight management, was associated with a reduction in asthma attacks of nearly 40% in a large real-world study presented September 8, 2026, at the ERS Congress in Barcelona, Spain.¹

The finding, among the most-discussed respiratory results out of the meeting, adds to a run of 2026 publications suggesting GLP-1 receptor agonists may carry benefits that reach past their labeled indications into airway disease and psychiatric care.²

Real-World Data Point to Fewer Attacks

The ERS Congress study was led by Chloe Bloom, Clinical Associate Professor in Respiratory Epidemiology at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and presented by Bohee Lee. The researchers ran 4 parallel studies, each covering 20,000 to 22,000 people, using UK electronic medical records to compare patients who started a GLP-1 receptor agonist against those started on a sulfonylurea, another class of diabetes medication.¹

People with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who received GLP-1 therapies had fewer acute attacks than similar patients on sulfonylureas, and semaglutide stood out from the rest of the class. "The effect was strongest with semaglutide, especially in people with asthma," Bloom said. Semaglutide use was tied to a nearly 40% reduction in asthma attacks and a 20% reduction in COPD flare-ups.¹

Alexander Mathioudakis, chair of the ERS Group on Airway Pharmacology and Treatment and senior lecturer in respiratory medicine at the University of Manchester, said the study is among the largest real-world analyses of GLP-1 receptor agonists and airway disease and one of the first to compare individual drugs within the class rather than treating GLP-1 therapies as a single group. Mathioudakis said the results support building respiratory outcomes, including asthma attacks, COPD exacerbations, lung function, and quality of life, into future trials of metabolic therapies.¹

Bloom cautioned that the findings should not change current practice. "[Patients] should not start GLP-1 receptor agonists specifically for their lung condition outside current prescribing guidance," she said, adding that the results need confirmation in clinical trials.¹

US Data Show a Similar Signal in Nondiabetic Patients

The ERS Congress findings echo results presented earlier in 2026 at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting. That study used the TriNetX global collaborative network to build propensity-matched cohorts of nondiabetic patients with asthma who were overweight (710 patients), obese (1515 patients), or morbidly obese (1249 patients), comparing three-year exacerbation rates between GLP-1 initiators and nonusers.³

GLP-1 initiation was associated with a reduced risk of asthma exacerbation across all three weight categories: a risk ratio of 0.748 and risk difference of 14.6% in the overweight group, a risk ratio of 0.790 and risk difference of 12.2% in the obese group, and a risk ratio of 0.780 and risk difference of 13.3% in the morbidly obese group.³

"Our findings suggest that GLP-1 receptor agonists may be associated with fewer asthma exacerbations in non-diabetic patients," said primary author Ruchi Patel, MD.³

Psychiatric Outcomes Add to the Expanding-Indications Picture

At the ERS Congress, investigators also reported on GLP-1s being used for mental health, particularly bipolar disorder. The findings showed GLP-1 could help protect the brain by reducing inflammation, cellular stress, and other processes that are associated with bipolar disorder.⁴

Semaglutide use was associated with a 21% lower risk of psychiatric hospitalization, while liraglutide and dulaglutide were not, again pointing away from a class-wide effect. Mark Taylor, MD, of Griffith University's School of Medicine and Dentistry, who worked on both the depression/anxiety and bipolar disorder studies, said the findings "could represent a promising new avenue for bipolar research."⁴

Furthermore, a national Swedish cohort study published in Lancet Psychiatry followed 95,490 people with a diagnosis of depression or anxiety who used antidiabetic medications between 2009 and 2022, comparing periods of GLP-1 receptor agonist use against periods of non-use within the same individuals.⁴

Semaglutide use was associated with a lower risk of worsening mental illness, a composite outcome covering psychiatric hospitalization, extended psychiatric sick leave, self-harm hospitalization, and suicide (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.51-0.65), as was liraglutide (aHR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.76-0.89). Exenatide and dulaglutide showed no such association.⁴

Semaglutide alone was linked to reduced risk of worsening depression, worsening anxiety, and worsening substance use disorder, while GLP-1 receptor agonists as a group were associated with reduced self-harm risk.⁴

What It Means for Pharmacists

None of these studies establish that GLP-1 receptor agonists treat asthma, COPD, depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder—all are observational, and the authors of both the ERS Congress study and the Lancet Psychiatry paper explicitly call for randomized controlled trials before any change in prescribing.^1,5

Pharmacists counseling patients already on semaglutide for diabetes or obesity may want to be aware of this emerging evidence base, particularly for patients who also carry a diagnosis of asthma, COPD, depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder, since it could come up in patient questions or off-label interest. At the same time, the data consistently point to semaglutide, specifically, rather than the GLP-1 class as a whole, reinforcing that these are not interchangeable effects across every agent in the category.^1,4,5

REFERENCES

1. Cree T. Weight loss injection semaglutide can reduce asthma attacks by up to 40 percent. News release. European Respiratory Society. September 8, 2026. Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.ersnet.org/news-and-features/news/weight-loss-injection-semaglutide-can-reduce-asthma-attacks-by-up-to-40-per-cent/

2. European Respiratory Society. Ozempic and Wegovy linked to nearly 40% fewer asthma attacks. ScienceDaily. September 9, 2026. Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260909005155.htm

3. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. GLP-1s Associated with Reduced Asthma Exacerbation in Patients Without Diabetes. News release. February 10, 2026. Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.aaaai.org/about/news/news/2026/glp1

4. Griffith University. Ozempic and Wegovy may have an unexpected mental health benefit. ScienceDaily. September 8, 2026. Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260907201601.htm

5. Taipale H, Taylor M, Lähteenvuo M, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Tanskanen A, Tiihonen J. Association between GLP-1 receptor agonist use and worsening mental illness in people with depression and anxiety in Sweden: a national cohort study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2026;13(4):327-335. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(26)00014-3