Anti-obesity jabs ‘reduce heart attack risk’ regardless of weight lost – study

Using the weight loss jab Wegovy may help reduce a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke, regardless of how much weight they lose, according to new research.

But losing belly fat appeared to be particularly beneficial for heart health, experts found.

The findings suggest the use of the drug could have wider benefits for patients so should not be restricted solely to severely obese patients, the researchers suggested.

Academics set out to examine the additional benefits of semaglutide, which is the main ingredient of Wegovy and also type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic.

A large new study, led by an expert from University College London (UCL), set out to examine whether or not people taking the drug went on to suffer a “major adverse cardiac event” – including heart disease deaths, heart attacks, or strokes.

They examined data on 17,604 people who were at least 45 years old who were either overweight or obese.

Half of the people taking part in the study – which was spread over 41 countries – were given weekly injections of semaglutide with the other half given a dummy drug, known as a placebo.

Previous analysis of the data found that semaglutide reduced the risk of major adverse cardiac events by 20%.

Now researchers have confirmed that the benefit was apparent regardless of how much weight people lost while taking the drug.

Academics said that the finding suggests there are suggests there are multiple ways the drug benefits the heart, rather than the protective effect achieved solely by weight loss alone.

They found that people with a body mass index (BMI) score of 27 – the average BMI score for UK adults – saw similar benefits as those who had the highest BMI scores.

And the benefits were also largely independent of how much weight people lost in the first four months of treatment.

But researchers did notice a difference between shrinking waistlines, measured by waist circumference, and heart benefits.

Writing in the Lancet, they said that an “estimated 33% of the observed benefit on major adverse cardiovascular events was mediated through waist circumference reduction”.

Lead author Professor John Deanfield, from UCL’s Institute of Cardiovascular Science, said: “Abdominal fat is more dangerous for our cardiovascular health than overall weight and therefore it is not surprising to see a link between reduction in waist size and cardiovascular benefit.

“However, this still leaves two thirds of the heart benefits of semaglutide unexplained.

“These findings reframe what we think this medication is doing.

“It is labelled as a weight loss jab but its benefits for the heart are not directly related to the amount of weight lost – in fact, it is a drug that directly affects heart disease and other diseases of ageing.”

He added: “This work has implications for how semaglutide is used in clinical practice.

“You don’t have to lose a lot of weight and you don’t need a high BMI to gain cardiovascular benefit.

“If your aim is to reduce cardiovascular disease, restricting its use to a limited time only and for those with the highest BMIs doesn’t make sense.

“At the same time, the benefits need to be weighed against potential side effects. Investigations of side effects become especially important given the broad range of people this medicine and others like it could help.”

The NHS in England is rolling out weight loss jabs to 240,000 people with the highest need over the next three years.

Commenting on the study, Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine and honorary consultant cardiologist from the University of Sheffield, said: “The implications of this and other similar studies are profound.

“The average man or woman in the UK has a BMI over 27, so most people with heart disease are likely to benefit from adding semaglutide to their existing drugs, which already usually include aspirin, statins, blood pressure lowering drugs, and other blood thinners.

“Evidence from this and other studies suggests we should consider giving these drugs to the very large number of people likely to get a meaningful benefit.”

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation and consultant cardiologist, said: “These intriguing results demonstrate that the benefits of medications like semaglutide on heart health go beyond weight loss alone.

“But this leaves much unexplained, more research will be needed to unravel the other mechanisms of action behind the cardiovascular benefits beyond weight and fat loss, such as improvements in blood vessel health, control of blood pressure and blood sugar, or inflammation.

“While this is a very large study which followed patients for a long time, we can’t yet know the potential impact of sustained use of medications like these, especially in cardiovascular patients who are not living with overweight and obesity.

“Ongoing research must be better representative of all cardiovascular patients, including by involving more women and under-represented groups, and will be needed to shed light on any side effects that longer term use may have.”