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Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Cut Heart Risks in Type 2 Diabetes: Study Finds - Video

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Overview

A new database study has found that the injectable weight-loss drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide significantly reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events in people with type 2 diabetes. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, show that these GLP-1-based therapies offer evident heart benefits beyond weight loss. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Harvard Medical School compared the two drugs using large-scale insurance claims data from U.S. health insurers, revealing reductions in cardiovascular risk of up to 18 percent.

The study demonstrates that both semaglutide and tirzepatide provide cardioprotective effects in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes. Compared with sitagliptin, a diabetes medication shown in earlier studies to lack cardiovascular benefits, semaglutide reduced the combined risk of stroke and heart attack by 18 percent. Tirzepatide, in comparison with dulaglutide-an older GLP-1 drug—lowered the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death by 13 percent.

The exact biological mechanisms behind these benefits remain unclear, but the results mark an important step toward understanding the broader effects of GLP-1 drugs. Since semaglutide and tirzepatide are relatively new therapies, direct comparative data on their cardiovascular effects have been limited.

"We hope our findings will provide clarity to physicians about how these new medications perform in clinical practice. Our transparent study design is also intended to support open scientific discussion about whether and how modern GLP-1 drugs should become part of the standard therapeutic repertoire in cardiovascular medicine,” said Dr. Nils Krüger, first author of the study and resident physician at the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases at the TUM University Hospital German Heart Center.

Reference: Krüger, N., Schneeweiss, S., Desai, R.J. Cardiovascular outcomes of semaglutide and tirzepatide for patients with type 2 diabetes in clinical practice. Nat Med (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04102-x

Speakers

Dr. Bhumika Maikhuri

Dr Bhumika Maikhuri is an orthodontist with 2 years of clinical experience. She is also working as a medical writer and anchor at Medical Dialogues. She has completed her BDS from Dr D.Y. Patil Medical College and Hospital and MDS from Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences. She has a few publications and patents to her credit. Her diverse background in clinical dentistry and academic research uniquely positions her to contribute meaningfully to our team.
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