GLP-1 drugs not linked to excess risk in recovered heart failure
Crude rates of hospitalization or death were 18.6 per 100 person-years with GLP-1 drugs against 16.7 with other diabetes drugs, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.05.
Multicenter
Limit: 97.6% of participants were men, so the findings do not cover women
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
An observational cohort study across 170 US Veterans Affairs hospitals analyzed 2,061 patients with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart failure whose pumping function had improved. Patients had a mean age of 68.9 years, and 97.6% were male. Researchers compared 1,165 patients starting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists against 896 starting dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors or sulfonylureas. Over a median follow-up of 3.6 years, 1,349 patients were hospitalized for heart failure or died. After adjustment, starting the receptor agonists was not associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization or death, with a hazard ratio of 1.05. The range of likely values included no difference. In a subgroup analysis, the drugs were associated with lower risk in patients with a body mass index above 40, with a hazard ratio of 0.75. For those with an index of 30 to 40, the hazard ratio was 1.23.
Why it matters
Heart failure becomes more common with age, and older adults whose heart function improves remain vulnerable to relapse. Clarifying the safety of widely prescribed metabolic drugs helps address whether these therapies can be used without triggering relapses in older patients.
Caveats
Because this was an observational study relying on medical records rather than a randomized trial, unmeasured differences between treatment groups may have influenced the findings. In addition, 97.6% of participants were men, so the results may not apply to women, people of normal weight, or those without diabetes.
The paper
Case Western Reserve University
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
