- A small research discovered that the favored weight reduction drug semaglutide might assist decrease the danger of creating heart problems.
- After one 12 months, research contributors confirmed enhancements in a number of cardiovascular threat components, together with blood stress, whole ldl cholesterol, and triglycerides.
- Some consultants recommend that by treating weight problems, Ozempic seems to lower threat components that may result in coronary heart illness.
New analysis has discovered that the favored weight reduction drug semaglutide, offered underneath the model names Wegovy and Ozempic, might assist decrease the danger of creating heart problems, too.
The findings, introduced at this 12 months’s European Congress on Obesity in Dublin, Ireland, discovered that a number of cardiovascular threat components, together with blood stress, whole ldl cholesterol, and triglycerides, decreased after a 12 months of taking semaglutide.
Cardiologists imagine that the anti-obesity drug boosts coronary heart well being by enhancing these threat components, that are confirmed to contribute to coronary heart illness.
Though further analysis is required to higher perceive the consequences of semaglutide, the findings recommend that individuals in danger for coronary heart illness might doubtlessly profit from taking semaglutide.
“In this small retrospective study amongst individuals who were overweight or obese, it appears that use of a specific agent targeting overall weight loss improved cardiovascular risk as measured by one well-utilized risk calculator,” Ajaykumar D. Rao, MD, MMSc, FACP, Chief of the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and Associate Professor of Medicine on the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, who was not a part of the unique research, advised Healthline.
To perceive the impact semaglutide has on heart problems in people who find themselves obese or have weight problems, the researchers evaluated the well being information of 93 sufferers with a physique mass index (BMI) of 27 kg/m2 or larger who had no historical past of heart problems.
Using their demographic, scientific, and lipid panel information, they calculated every affected person’s 10-year atherosclerotic heart problems (10-year ASCVD) threat earlier than beginning semaglutide after which after one 12 months of taking semaglutide.
The 10-year ASCVD threat estimator is a instrument created by the American College of Cardiology that predicts an individual’s 10-year threat of creating atherosclerotic heart problems.
It’s used to information potential therapy plans in individuals in danger for coronary heart illness.
The workforce discovered that the 10-year ASCVD dropped by 1.38 %, from 7.64 % earlier than taking semaglutide to six.26 % after 12 months of taking the anti-obesity drug.
The researchers additionally measured a number of cardiovascular threat components, together with whole physique weight reduction proportion, change in blood stress, HbA1c (a measure of blood sugar management), fasting glucose, lipid panel, blood stress drugs, and use of aspirin and statin earlier than the sufferers started taking semaglutide and at and their final follow-up go to.
After a 12 months of taking semaglutide, the contributors’ blood stress dropped considerably — on common, by 9.3/4.9 mmHg — as did their whole ldl cholesterol, LDL ldl cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, and HbA1c.
Patients additionally misplaced a mean of 10.9 % of their physique weight.
There have been some limitations of the report.
Supreeti Behuria, MD, a heart specialist at Staten Island University Hospital, says the research included a small pattern measurement of fewer than 100 individuals and it had a brief follow-up time of lower than one 12 months. Behuria was not concerned within the analysis.
“Almost 91 percent of patients were white, so this study did not represent our diverse patient population and I wonder at its applicability in the broader context,” Behuria stated.
While the report suggests Ozempic might have constructive results on cardiovascular well being, extra analysis with bigger pattern sizes and longer follow-up intervals is required to higher perceive the brief and long-term impacts.
Mir Ali, MD, bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, says there are a number of mechanisms by which weight problems will increase the danger of heart problems — primarily, that weight problems will increase atherosclerotic plaque buildup in arteries, placing individuals in danger for myocardial infarction. Ali was additionally not a part of the unique analysis.
The enhance in physique fats in weight problems contributes to different threat components for coronary heart illness like hypertension, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea, says Behuria.
“In my opinion, it is not the medication itself that is lowering heart disease risk, but the weight loss as a result of taking it,” Ali stated.
Obesity is likely one of the most targetable and modifiable threat components for weight problems, in response to Rao.
“Semaglutide is [a] medication that helps reduce body weight and thus treats obesity. By treating obesity, helps decrease cardiovascular risk factors which further lower the risk of cardiovascular disease,” Behuria stated.
New analysis has discovered that the favored weight reduction drug semaglutide might assist decrease the danger of creating heart problems, too.
Multiple cardiovascular threat components, together with blood stress, whole ldl cholesterol, and triglycerides, improved after a 12 months of taking semaglutide.
By treating weight problems, semaglutide seems to lower threat components that may result in coronary heart illness.