Semaglutide, the popular anti-obesity drug, reduced the rates of COVID-19-related adverse events, including death, in those who had overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease without diabetes, according to a new study published in JACC , the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology. The results will be published simultaneously with a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Conference 2024 in London. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of death and can increase many cardiovascular risk factors.
A higher BMI can also increase the risk of non-CV causes of death, including infection. In this new substudy of the SELECT Trial, researchers looked at whether once-weekly semaglutide (2.4mg) reduced rates of all-cause death, CV death, and non-CV death, including death from COVID-19.
This groundbreaking study demonstrates that semaglutide, perhaps by improving cardiometabolic health, has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined. The ability of semaglutide to significantly lower cardiovascular and COVID-19-related adverse events underscores the transformative potential of targeting obesity and improving cardiometabolic health as a strategy to protect against a broad spectrum of health threats." Harlan M.
Krumholz, MD, FACC, Editor-in-Chief of JACC and the Harold H. Hines, Jr Professor at the Yale School of Medicine The SELECT trial enrolled 17,604 people who were 45 years old or older and were overweight or had obes.