Semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic – may reduce heart disease risk, even within the first six months.
A secondary analysis of a study, shared at the 32nd European Congress on Obesity in Spain in May, found semaglutide may help decrease the risk of death from any cause, death from cardiovascular causes, combined heart failure outcomes and major adverse cardiovascular events after just six months.
It builds on findings from an earlier 2023 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found weekly injections of semaglutide helped decrease the risk of stroke, heart attack or death from cardiovascular causes.
At just three months, before dose titration was over, participants on semaglutide had a noted decreased risk for stroke, heart attack or cardiovascular death, with additional benefits at six months. The secondary analysis included 17,604 participants who were overweight or obese and already had cardiovascular disease; about half received semaglutide while the other half received a placebo.
The average follow-up time with participants was 39.8 months, and the average time participants took semaglutide was 34.2 months.
Researchers found participants who received semaglutide had a 20 percent decreased risk of experiencing non-fatal heart attacks, non-fatal strokes or death from cardiovascular causes.
The secondary analysis focused on heart health in the first six months after participant randomization and ‘the results suggest cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide could begin fairly early on’, noted medicalnewstoday.com.
At three months, researchers found participants who received semaglutide had a decreased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), which included non-fatal heart attack, non- fatal stroke or cardiovascular death. These findings ‘occurred even before there was significant weight loss among participants in the semaglutide group and even before participants had reached the full dose of semaglutide’.
