Weight loss jabs can slash the risk of heart patients dying or being admitted to hospital by more than half, the largest study of its kind suggests.
Researchers said millions more patients could soon be offered the likes of Mounjaro and Wegovy to extend their life as they hailed their ‘dramatic benefits’.
The drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, were initially developed to treat diabetes and work by mimicking a hormone to make users feel full.
But mounting evidence has emerged in recent years to suggested they could prove to be lifesaving across a range of conditions beyond diabetes and obesity.
Now new research shows they could reduce the risk of people with heart conditions being hospitalised or dying early by as much as 58 per cent.
American researchers from Mass General Brigham, a nonprofit network of doctors and hospitals headquartered in Boston, analysed real-world data from more than 90,000 heart failure patients who were obese and had type 2 diabetes.
All had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HfpEF), the most common form of the condition.
The results showed that those taking the weight loss drug semaglutide – commonly sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy – were 42 per cent less likely to end up in hospital or die prematurely, compared to a proxy for placebo.
Weight loss jabs can slash the risk of heart patients dying or being admitted to hospital by more than half, according to a study
Now new research shows they could reduce the risk of people with heart conditions being hospitalised or dying early by as much as 58 per cent (stock image)
Meanwhile, the weight loss drug tirzepatide – sold as Mounjaro – cut the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure or death from any cause by 58 per cent.
Globally, more than 60 million people have heart failure, with around 1million living in the UK.
Previous studies have suggested that weight loss drugs may improve heart failure symptoms, but their effect on important outcomes like hospitalisation and death has never been evaluated in large populations until now.
By analysing real-world data from such a large group of patients, the researchers demonstrated that GLP-1 agonists may significantly reduce the risk of hospitalisation due to heart failure and all-cause mortality.
The findings were simultaneously presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Madrid and published in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.
Study author Dr Nils Krüger, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said his study demonstrated fat jabs have ‘dramatic benefits’ for patients with heart failure.
He added: ‘Despite the widespread morbidity and mortality burden of HFpEF, current treatment options are limited.
‘Both semaglutide and tirzepatide are well-known for their effects on weight loss and blood sugar control, but our study suggests they may also offer substantial benefits to patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes by reducing adverse heart failure outcomes.’
Despite promising results from previous studies of semaglutide and tirzepatide, regulators have not yet approved or endorsed the use of these drugs for HfpEF patients, due in part to the studies’ relatively small sample sizes.
For the new study, researchers used data from three large US insurance claims databases to emulate two previous, placebo-controlled trials of semaglutide and tirzepatide in new populations that were an average of 19 times larger than those previously evaluated.
They compared the one-year risk of hospitalisation or death in new users of each weight loss drug to the risk of those outcomes in a placebo group of patients taking sitagliptin, a diabetes drug known to have no impact on HfpEF.
Dr Krüger said: ‘By using nationwide data and an innovative methodological approach, our team was able to expand the findings of previous trials to larger populations more representative of HFpEF patients treated in clinical practice.
‘Our findings show that in the future, GLP-1 targeting medications could provide a much-needed treatment option for patients with heart failure.’
In May, a trial found that people taking semaglutide had a 20 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke or death due to cardiovascular disease.
The University College London study also found semaglutide brought about cardiovascular benefits, regardless of someone’s starting weight or the amount of weight that they had lost.
Dr Carlos Aguiar, vice-president of the European Society of Cardiology and a world renowned expert in heart failure, who was not involved with the study, welcomed the findings.
He said: ‘What this shows is that there is a benefit in using one of these two agents, semaglutide or tirzepatide, to reduce the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure or all-cause mortality.
‘We thought that we actually might not really find a treatment that would work well for a significant proportion of these patients, and what’s been a good surprise is that these drugs that are working through weight loss, but possibly through other effects that go beyond weight loss, are potentially reducing the rates of hospitalisation and mortality in patients with heart failure.’
Dr Aguiar, a cardiology consultant at Hospital Santa Cruz in Carnaxide, Portugal, said more evidence would be required before doctors could recommend rolling out weight loss drugs to heart patients specifically to cut their risk of adverse health outcomes, but the study results were ‘good news’.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation and consultant cardiologist, said: ‘These data add to the growing body of evidence supporting a role for weight loss drugs for patients living with both heart failure and obesity, to reduce hospital admissions and death.
‘It’s crucial that eligible heart failure patients have the opportunity to be considered for these therapies, alongside other evidence-based heart failure medicines.
‘If you have been prescribed these medicines by your doctor, there are steps you can take to maintain the benefits long into the future.
‘This includes adding more regular exercise, including some resistance training, into your routine and working towards as healthy and nutritious diet as possible.
‘But these drugs don’t suit everyone.
‘It’s important to seek medical advice if you are anxious about side effects, or if you experience sudden and severe pain in your abdomen while using weight loss drugs.’
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