The popular weight loss medicine Wegovy may offer health benefits to people who have diabetes and a common type of heart failure, as well as help them lose weight, according to a new study.
The research, published on Saturday (6) in New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the drug helped people with type 2 diabetes who also had one of the most common types of heart failure, related to obesity with preserved ejection fraction. This condition occurs when the heart pumps regularly but is too stiff to fill properly.
Current treatment involves lifestyle changes and cardiac medications, but there are no therapies specifically approved to treat this particular condition, and the number of people affected by it has increased significantly, according to the study authors.
Obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction can severely limit a person's ability to participate in activities of daily living. They often tire easily, have difficulty breathing, and the condition can carry a high risk of hospitalization, disability and death.
Often, people with type 2 diabetes who have this type of heart failure have a more severe form than those who do not have diabetes.
The researchers who conducted this study — funded by the drug's manufacturer, Novo Nordisk — also published a study last year that found Wegovy had significant positive health effects in people without diabetes who had the heart condition. But because people with diabetes can respond differently to medication, they wanted to know if they might see similar results in this additional group.
People with a more severe form of heart failure sometimes do not respond as well to medication as those with less severe disease. Weight loss studies also found that people with diabetes who took Wegovy tended to lose weight, but not as much as those who didn't have diabetes.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two injectable semaglutide medications, which mimic the body's GLP-1 hormone to help produce insulin and signal the brain to reduce appetite.
Ozempic was approved in 2017 for type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy was approved in 2021 for obesity. In March, the FDA also approved Wegovy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in adults with cardiovascular disease and obesity or overweight.
The new research seemed to offer further proof that the benefits of Wegovy extend to people with diabetes .
For this study, researchers randomly assigned 616 people who had type 2 diabetes and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction to two groups. Participants came from 108 locations in 16 countries across Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and all had a body mass index of 30 or higher. One group received Wegovy; the other received a placebo.
Participants receiving Wegovy started on a lower dose and increased to a dose of 2.4 milligrams once a week. The researchers followed both groups for a year.
People who received Wegovy had much better results, with greater weight loss and greater reduction in symptoms related to heart failure and physical limitations compared to those who received the placebo. They also took a longer walk within six minutes and had improvements in biomarkers of inflammation and other problems.
The Wegovy-treated group had fewer adverse events such as hospitalizations and urgent doctor visits, although the number of events was small in both groups.
There were 55 serious adverse events reported in the Wegovy group and 88 in the placebo group. Six people died in the Wegovy group during the study period, compared with 10 in the other group. One death in the Wegovy group and four in the placebo group were related to cardiovascular problems.
The consistent positive results from this trial and the one published last year seem to suggest that the Wegovy is an effective and safe treatment for a broad population of people including those with diabetes, according to study co-author Mikhail Kosiborod, a cardiologist and vice president of research at St. Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States.
“This new, well-conducted study suggests once again that we have underestimated the impact of excess weight on the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Preventing obesity remains extremely important, but newer treatments that help people living with obesity lose decent amounts of weight could help improve the lives of many people living with heart failure and many other conditions associated with obesity.” Sattar.
Kosiborod, who presented the research on Saturday at American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, said he believes the study also opens up a new way of treating heart failure by treating obesity.
“Obesity is much more than weight. It's a systemic cardiometabolic condition that causes all sorts of problems, and treating obesity involves weight loss, but it means much more than that,” she says. “We need to focus on that, and I think future standards of care for this type of heart failure will improve, and without a doubt in my mind, will include the management of obesity.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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