GLP-1 starters show lower dementia hazard than DPP-4 users after COVID

The wire

1. 01A target trial emulation matched 25,263 COVID-19 survivors aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes starting a GLP-1 receptor agonist against equal numbers starting a DPP-4 inhibitor; incident dementia hazard ratio was 0.64.
2. 02Vascular dementia (HR 0.67) and Alzheimer's disease (HR 0.74) were both lower, giving clinicians another data point when choosing between incretin and DPP-4 therapy in this group.
3. 03The authors call the findings hypothesis-generating and note the mild cognitive impairment estimate was borderline and not consistent across sensitivity analyses; this is observational claims-network data, not a randomized trial.

From the source

GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Versus DPP-4 Inhibitors and Incident Dementia Risk in COVID-19 Survivors with Type 2 Diabetes: A Target Trial Emulation Study

Drug design, development and therapy · 2026 · Hung KC, Yu TS, Liu PH et al.