A group of medications originally created to treat diabetes is now showing strong benefits for both heart and kidney health—even in people who don’t have diabetes.
According to the largest and most detailed study of its kind, GLP-1 receptor agonists can lower the risk of kidney failure, heart attacks, and strokes. The findings were published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
GLP-1 receptor agonists are drugs that mimic a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1. This hormone helps the body release insulin and lower blood sugar.
Over time, these drugs have also been found to help people lose weight by slowing digestion, reducing hunger, and making people feel full for longer. Some well-known examples include semaglutide (sold under names like Ozempic and Wegovy), dulaglutide (Trulicity), and liraglutide (Victoza).
While doctors already knew that these drugs helped people with diabetes and heart conditions, their effect on kidney health had remained unclear. This new meta-analysis helps answer that question.
Researchers analyzed data from 11 large clinical trials that included more than 85,000 people. Of those, nearly 68,000 had type 2 diabetes, while the rest were people with obesity or heart disease but no diabetes. The trials covered seven different GLP-1 drugs.
The study found that, compared to people taking a placebo, those taking GLP-1 receptor agonists had a 16% lower risk of developing kidney failure. Their risk of worsening kidney function dropped by 22%. When the researchers looked at the overall chances of kidney failure, declining kidney health, and death due to kidney disease, the risk was 19% lower.
The medications also continued to show their well-known heart benefits. People taking them had a 14% lower risk of dying from heart disease, having a non-fatal heart attack, or having a stroke. Overall, the risk of death from any cause was 13% lower for people on GLP-1 drugs compared to those taking a placebo.
Lead researcher Professor Sunil Badve from The George Institute for Global Health and UNSW Sydney said the study breaks new ground in showing that these drugs not only help manage diabetes and weight, but also protect both the heart and kidneys—even in those without diabetes.
He emphasized that these benefits are especially meaningful for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a condition that gets worse over time and can lead to the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant. CKD also raises the risk of dying early, mostly from heart…
Chronic kidney disease affects about 10% of people around the world—about 850 million individuals. It’s currently the tenth leading cause of death and could become the fifth by 2050. Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are all major risk factors for CKD and contribute heavily to the global disease burden.
Senior author Professor Vlado Perkovic, also from The George Institute and UNSW Sydney, said this research shows that GLP-1 receptor agonists could be an important tool in the fight against non-communicable diseases like heart disease, kidney disease, and obesity.
He believes the findings will shape future treatment guidelines and hopes to see these drugs made more available to the people who need them.
The next step, researchers say, is to bring this knowledge into everyday medical practice—and to make sure more patients have access to these potentially life-changing medications.
