Semaglutide, Heart health, and Obesity

A research study called the select trail sought to find if semaglutide (a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist) can reduce the risk of adverse heart related events in patients who did not have Diabetes but were obese.

A total of 17,604 people above the age of 45 years with pre-existing heart disease and body mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 27 or greater were enrolled in the study. None of the people had Diabetes. Of these 8,803 people received semaglutide and 8801 received placebo.

The results showed that those who received weekly subcutaneous semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg had lower risk than the placebo group in undergoing non-fatal heart attack or stroke. The control group also had a reduced incidence of death from heart related causes.

The New England Journal of Medicine, 2023