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(NEW YORK) — A new study suggests that GLP-1 agonist medications like Ozempic, which are used for diabetes management and weight loss, may help reduce the risk of overdose and alcohol intoxication in people with substance use disorders.

“It helps to underline another significant benefit of this class of medication,” Dr. Angela Fitch, the co-founder, and chief medical officer of knownwell, a company that provides weight-inclusive health care, told ABC News.

The large study, published in the journal, Addiction, analyzed the health records of 1.3 million people from 136 U.S. hospitals for nearly nine years. That included the records of 500,000 people with opioid use and more than 800,000 with alcohol use disorder.

Those who took Ozempic or a similar drug had a 40% lower chance of overdosing on opioids and a 50% lower chance of getting drunk compared to those who didn’t take the medication, the study found.

“The existing medications for treating substance use disorder are underutilized and stigmatized,” said Fares Qeadan, associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University in Chicago. “These medications intended for diabetes and weight loss can help addiction without the associated stigma, which will be a new window for how to deal with addiction.”

The protective effects were consistent and even applied to people with Type 2 diabetes, obesity, or both conditions.

Fitch expressed optimism about the study’s results.

“As clinicians, recognizing that people can get double benefits from something is always helpful and as more obesity medications enter the market, this can help personalize treatments,” she said.

GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and the combination drug tirzepatide also included in the study, mimic a natural hormone known as glucagon-like peptide-1 to help regulate blood sugar and insulin levels. For managing obesity and diabetes, these medications work by slowing digestion, reducing appetite, and enhancing insulin release in response to meals.

Scientists don’t fully understand how these drugs work yet. Some studies indicate that they activate specific “reward” receptors in the brain that make high-calorie foods less gratifying, so users eat less.

This could also be the reason these drugs may reduce cravings for alcohol and opioids. For example, a previous study found that adding the GLP-1, exenatide, was effective at helping some people with obesity and alcohol use disorder drink less.

The Addiction study does not prove that GLP-1 medications directly lower the risks of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication, only that people taking them seemed to be helped. And it only included hospitalizations so it’s not clear if they will work as well in less serious cases.

Prescribing the drugs to treat substance use, at least for now, isn’t possible because they aren’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for that purpose, Fitch pointed out.

“One of the challenges that we have as clinicians is we know that some of these benefits help patients. And not being able to get them access is very challenging,” she said.

People with substance use disorder keep using drugs or alcohol even though it causes problems in their life. According to the CDC, there are 178,000 annual deaths linked to excessive drinking. Over 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2022 involved opioids.

If you or someone you know is living with substance use disorder, free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling or texting the national lifeline at 988.

Dr. Faizah Shareef is an Internal Medicine Resident Physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(NEW YORK) — Breast cancer deaths have fallen by 44% compared to 35 years ago, saving nearly 520,000 lives, according to a new report by the American Cancer Society.

The dramatic decrease is a major milestone in the fight against breast cancer, according to Dr. Lisa Newman, a co-author of the report, released on Tuesday, the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“This decline is evidence of our success in better treatments for breast cancer, especially with targeted treatments,” Newman, chief of the section of breast surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, told ABC News.

Beyond advances in care, Newman noted that mammography has also played a crucial role in detecting cancer earlier.

In April, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated their guidelines, recommending that women at average risk for breast cancer get a mammogram every two years starting at age 40.

However, screening isn’t perfect, Newman stressed.

Women should watch for new lumps, skin changes, and nipple changes, including unusual discharge, pain, and redness.

Even if the last mammogram is clear, women should discuss any changes with a healthcare provider.

Steepest rise in new cases among women under 50

Though breast cancer deaths have dropped, new cases continue to rise.

From 2012 to 2021, breast cancer diagnoses increased by 1% each year, with the steepest rise among women under 50.

The reasons for the increase in diagnoses at a younger age remain unclear, Newman said.

“We speculate that it is related to differences in lifestyle and environment given the obesity epidemic and more women delaying their childbearing years and having fewer pregnancies over their lifetime,” she said.

Racial disparities in breast cancer persist

Yet despite lower overall death rates, racial disparities in breast cancer persist.

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women have seen no improvement in death rates, while Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) women face the fastest uptick in new cases, with a nearly 3% annual increase.

And despite having 10% fewer cases than white women, AIAN women are 6% more likely to die from the disease and receive fewer regular mammograms.

Black women face a 38% higher chance of dying from breast cancer and have worse outcomes at every stage and subtype, except for localized cancers, compared to white women.

“Studies show that Black women are more likely to receive mammograms at lower-quality facilities, face delays in diagnosing abnormalities, and experience delays in starting and completing treatment,” Newman explained.

Because African American women are more prone to triple negative breast cancer, a particularly deadly form of the disease, Newman said there is a strong push to improve the diversity in clinical trials.

In May of 2024, the ACS launched the VOICES of Black Women Study which will enroll 100,000 Black women aged 25 to 55 and follow them for 30 years.

Newman also pointed out that breast cancer can affect men, especially African American men, who have double the risk compared to White men.

While the report revealed many promising trends in breast cancer, the disease remains the second most common cancer among women in the U.S. after skin cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths for Black and Hispanic women. In 2024, experts predict over 300,000 new invasive (stage I and above) breast cancer cases with more than 40,000 deaths.

The report’s findings are based on data from the national cancer tracking programs that includes information from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to publicly testify Tuesday before Congress on his administration’s nursing home policies during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hearing, before the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, will see Cuomo defend his decision to allow COVID-19-positive patients back into nursing homes and long-term care facilities while the pandemic was underway.

Cuomo previously testified before the subcommittee during a closed-door hearing in June. Transcripts from that interview, as well as with high-ranking officials during Cuomo’s administration, will be released ahead of the public hearing.

“Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement last week. “On September 10, Americans will have the opportunity to hear directly from the former governor about New York’s potentially fatal nursing home policies.”

In March 2020, as COVID-19 cases were surging, Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to readmit all residents who were “medically stable” and returning after being hospitalized for the virus.

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order read. 

It further stated that nursing homes were “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

At the time, Cuomo explained that the order would help expand hospital capacity to meet the demands of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients. After facing criticism from nursing home advocates, however, the governor amended the order in May 2020, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they first tested negative for COVID-19.

Cuomo fought back against criticism of his policies and, in July 2020, a report from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) stated that COVID-19 was introduced into nursing homes by infected staff, and that peak staff infections correlated with peak nursing home resident deaths. The report also found that “admissions policies were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities.”

However, in January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found the NYSDOH had undercounted the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 by as much as 50%, and failed to count in its official death tally nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after being admitted to hospitals.

In 2022, Cuomo’s representative said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not file criminal charges in connection with the former governor’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, an independent investigation, commissioned by current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that although Cuomo’s nursing home response policy was based on “the best available data at the time,” communication to the public was poor and caused anxiety for family members of nursing home residents.

“Even the most well-intentioned policy had unforeseen consequences in [New York state] nursing homes,” the report read.

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