- Semaglutide, marketed as Ozempic or Wegovy, helps patients with HFpEF
Weight loss jabs could help ease symptoms of fatal heart failure and offer hope to half a million Britons.
One study found that semaglutide, known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, helped women lose more weight than men, but provided the same benefits for members of either gender who suffer from a common type of heart failure.
Experts said it suggests it could address an underlying mechanism of heart failure, in addition to the patient’s weight loss benefits.
The analysis is the first to look at the effects of the shot on men and women separately in relation to preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), where the heart pumps normally but is too stiff to fill properly.
The study of 1,145 patients analyzed the effects of a weekly injection of 2.4 mg for one year.
Semaglutide, sometimes marketed as Ozempic, helps women lose more weight than men, but may help alleviate symptoms of preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Women lose more weight: on average 9.6 percent of their body weight, compared to 7.2 percent in men. But the jabs were found to improve symptoms of heart failure, such as shortness of breath, fatigue and swelling in the legs and feet, in both sexes.
Patients were also able to exercise more and had less inflammation.
The new analysis, presented in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, comes after it emerged that the jabs significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
New analysis has found the drug is effective in reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke in people (file photo)
The findings, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice last month, were touted as the most significant development in the field of heart disease since the introduction of statins with use of the drugs set to ‘change clinical practice’. HFpEF affects around half a million people in Britain.
The annual mortality rate is 10 to 15 percent and patients are typically hospitalized about once a year. Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate professor at the British Heart Foundation and consultant cardiologist, has previously spoken about the ‘exciting’ potential of this class of drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists.
She said: ‘For some people, living with heart failure can make daily activities difficult or even impossible.
“The kinds of improvements like being able to walk further can have a transformative impact on someone’s life.”