Wegovy, a popular weight-loss drug, might just be a life-changer for people struggling with a specific type of heart failure.
A study has shown that this medication could make a big difference in reducing symptoms and improving the quality of life for these patients.
How the Study Worked
The focus of this study was on patients suffering from a type of heart failure called “heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.”
In simpler terms, this means that while their hearts are failing, they’re still able to pump a normal amount of blood. About half of all people with heart failure have this particular type.
Researchers wanted to see if Wegovy could help these patients, especially those who are also overweight. Overweight people often have a higher risk of heart problems, so tackling both issues at once seemed like a good idea.
The study involved 529 patients from all around the world. These patients were on average 69 years old, and more than half of them were women.
All the patients were given either weekly shots of Wegovy or a fake treatment (known as a placebo) for one year.
What Did They Find?
The people who took Wegovy lost a lot more weight than those who didn’t. On average, the Wegovy group saw a drop of 13.3% in their weight after a year.
Those on the fake treatment only had a minor weight loss of about 2.6%.
But the benefits didn’t stop there. The Wegovy group also felt better in terms of their heart failure symptoms.
A scoring system was used to measure this, with 100 points indicating “excellent health” and 0-25 points signaling “very poor” health.
People taking Wegovy showed a significant improvement of 16.6 points on average, while those on the fake treatment showed an improvement of only 8.7 points.
Additionally, people taking Wegovy were less likely to experience serious problems that would land them in the emergency room or hospital.
More Research Needed, But It Looks Promising
While these results are exciting, experts say more studies need to be done to really understand how Wegovy is helping the heart.
But the early findings are encouraging and offer new hope for treating a condition that can make daily life really tough.
Heart failure often causes people to feel very tired, have trouble breathing, and suffer from swelling, making even simple activities like walking a struggle.
So, for people grappling with both heart failure and weight issues, Wegovy could potentially be a game-changing medication, giving them a much-needed break from their health struggles.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and scientists find how COVID-19 damages the heart.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about Aspirin linked to higher risk of heart failure, and results showing this drug could reduce heart disease, fatty liver, obesity.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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