Weight regain after diet pill use linked to rise in suicidal thoughts: Study

( NewsNation ) — People who used prescription weight loss medication and later regained the weight reported suicidal thoughts at more than four times the rate of people who never took the drugs, a new study found.

Researchers led by Dr. Son Ki-young, a family medicine professor at Asan Medical Center, analyzed data from 27,741 adults — 10,908 men and 16,833 women — who took part in a national health survey between 2013 and 2022.

Of those, 846 reported using prescription weight-loss drugs in the prior year, while 26,895 did not, according to the study published in Korean Journal of Family Practice .

Compared with people who hadn’t used the meds, those who had were 2.7 times more likely to report suicidal thoughts, 1.9 times more likely to report creating a plan and 1.7 times more likely to report an attempt.

They were also 1.9 times more likely to report depression lasting more than two weeks and twice as likely to have sought mental health counseling, the data shows.

The sharpest numbers came from a subgroup: people who took the medication and still gained weight.

Their odds of suicidal thoughts were 4.2 times higher than those who never used the drugs, while depression and counseling odds were roughly 1.9 and 1.8 times higher, the researchers found.

The study’s authors said the pattern likely reflects more than a direct drug effect.

“The increase in suicide-related index, among those who regained weight after weight-loss medication, is not just related to the neurological and psychiatric effects of the medicine itself,” the research team wrote, according to the International Business Times . “It is likely to be connected in a complex way to the psychological and social elements related to failing to control one’s weight.”

The study is observational, meaning it can’t prove the medications caused the mental health symptoms — only that a correlation exists.

The survey period also mostly predates widespread use of newer GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro) in South Korea.

The sample instead largely reflects older appetite suppressants, including phentermine, diethylpropion, phendimetrazine, topiramate and orlistat — stimulant-based drugs already linked to anxiety, insomnia and mood changes.

People with severe obesity already have higher baseline rates of depression, anxiety and body-image distress and a one-time survey can’t separate preexisting symptoms from new ones.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked drugmakers to remove suicidal-ideation warning language from the labels of Saxenda, Wegovy and Zepbound after a review of 91 placebo-controlled trials involving more than 107,000 patients found no increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior tied to GLP-1 drugs .

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly both said they support the FDA’s findings, though Lilly’s consumer materials still direct patients to watch for mood changes and contact a doctor if symptoms are “new, worse or worry you.”