ADA: Semaglutide Equally Effective in Men, Women With Obesity-Related Heart Failure

A recent study has found that semaglutide, a medication used for treating obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), leads to greater weight loss in women compared to men, but provides similar improvements in heart failure-related symptoms in both genders. The study results were published online on June 23 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and coincided with the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association held in Orlando, Florida from June 21 to 24.

The research, led by Dr. Subodh Verma from the University of Toronto, aimed to evaluate the effects of semaglutide on HFpEF patients based on sex differences. The study is part of the STEP-HFpEF program, which involves patients who have heart failure, a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45 percent or more, a body mass index of 30 kg/m^2 or higher, and a Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS) of less than 90 points. A total of 1,145 patients, almost evenly split by gender (49.7 percent female), were randomly assigned to receive either a weekly dose of 2.4 mg semaglutide or a matched placebo over a 52-week period.

The findings revealed that semaglutide improved the KCCQ-CSS scores for both men and women by a mean difference of +7.6 and +7.5 points, respectively. However, the medication had a more pronounced effect on body weight reduction in women, with a mean difference of -9.6 percent, compared to -7.2 percent in men. Additionally, semaglutide enhanced the six-minute walk distance (6MWD) and the hierarchical composite endpoint, which includes all-cause death, heart failure events, changes in KCCQ-CSS, and 6MWD, for both sexes.

Compared to the placebo group, patients treated with semaglutide experienced fewer serious adverse events. Despite the greater weight reduction observed in women, the study concluded that semaglutide offered substantial improvements in heart failure-related symptoms, physical limitations, and exercise function, as well as reductions in inflammation and natriuretic peptides, regardless of the patient's sex.

Several authors of the study disclosed relationships with biopharmaceutical companies, including Novo Nordisk, which is the manufacturer of semaglutide and also funded the research.