NEJM Original Investigation Article
The New England Journal of Medicine, September 21, 2023
A randomized, controlled trial in 529 patients with heart failure and obesity, assigned to receive medication or placebo, and followed for one year.
What’s Interesting about this article?
- Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is increasing in prevalence and is associated with high symptom burden and functional impairment, especially in persons with obesity.
- The weekly dose of semaglutide (2.4 mg) resulted in larger reductions in symptoms, greater improvements in exercise function and greater weight loss than placebo.
- In an accompanying editorial, Yigal Pinto, MD, PhD speculates that heart failure with preserved ejection fraction may be a metabolic disease.
JournalDoc Comments:
- The class of incretin mimetics is gaining recognition as “new miracle drugs” for weight loss. This article suggests that they may have an effect on cardiovascular disorders as well as obesity.
- It is not clear whether the improvement in symptoms is due to a change in intracardiac pressures or weight loss.
- This study offers a new treatment option for a condition that has, in the past, been difficult to treat.
Disclaimer: Article of the Week selections by JournalDoc physicians are independent, unbiased and have no commercial conflict of interest. JournalDoc does not support or endorse the findings or opinions expressed in the article. Findings in the article may need to be supported by further research and/or the consensus of experts.
