(News Nation) — Popular weight loss drug Ozempic and Wegovi New research suggests it may reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 reactions, including death.
Published in Journal of the American College of CardiologyThe study followed 17,604 people over three years.
Although taking semaglutide once a week did not reduce the overall incidence of COVID-19, it was found to reduce “COVID-19-related adverse events”.
An incidence of 3.1% was recorded in people taking a placebo, compared with 2.6% in people taking weight-loss drugs.
The participants are as follows:
- Age 45 or older
- Being overweight or obese
- Diagnosed with cardiovascular disease
- Undiagnosed diabetes
A total of about 833 deaths occurred during the study period, of which 58% were cardiovascular disease-related and 42% were not.
“Generally, patients receiving semaglutide had consistently lower all-cause, cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality rates compared with patients receiving placebo across major subgroups, including age, sex, race, region, area of atherosclerotic disease, renal function and heart failure,” the study concludes.
“These findings confirm that overweight and obesity increase the risk of mortality from many etiologies, which can be ameliorated with potent incretin-based therapies such as semaglutide,” said Benjamin Sirica, MD, PhD, lead author of the study. MedicalXpress Report.
