The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a new investigation that explored if semaglutide and tirzepatide – GLP-1 drugs popular for the treatment of diabetes and obesity – reduce the risk of hospitalization for heart failure or all-cause mortality in patients with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and type 2 diabetes. The investigation utilized five cohort studies using national US health care claims data from 2018 to 2024. Patients initiating semaglutide or tirzepatide had a more than 40% lower risk of hospitalization for heart failure or all-cause mortality compared with sitagliptin (a glucose-lowering drug with no effect on heart failure end points). Tirzepatide showed no meaningful benefit over semaglutide. These findings complement early results from small clinical trials and support the use of semaglutide and tirzepatide in patients with cardiometabolic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
