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ESC Congress 2026 Abstract

Tirzepatide tied to fewer cardiovascular events than dulaglutide

Patients receiving tirzepatide had 1,489 total cardiovascular events compared with 1,696 in those given dulaglutide, representing a rate ratio of 0.87.

Paper by D L Bhatt, A R Soares, H Nishiyama, 3 more authorsS J Nicholls · Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Randomized trial in 13,165 patients with type 2 diabetes, against dulaglutideInterventions

Limit: For three-part cardiovascular events, the range of likely values included no difference

Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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A randomized, double-blind trial studied 13,165 patients with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with an average age of 64.1 years and 29% women. Participants received weekly tirzepatide at doses up to 15 milligrams or weekly dulaglutide at 1.5 milligrams.

For an expanded outcome of five cardiovascular events, tirzepatide was associated with a lower total burden: 1,489 total events compared with 1,696 with dulaglutide, giving a rate ratio of 0.87. These included 1,112 first and 377 recurrent events with tirzepatide, versus 1,240 first and 456 recurrent events with dulaglutide. For a three-part measure of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death, patients on tirzepatide experienced 925 total events versus 1,005 on dulaglutide, a rate ratio of 0.91, but the range of likely values included no difference. Fewer tirzepatide patients had two or more expanded events.

Why it matters

Cardiovascular disease and diabetes become increasingly common with age, and recurrent heart events contribute heavily to long-term illness in older adults. Examining whether metabolic drugs can lower the total burden of these events addresses how therapies might preserve cardiovascular health over time in aging populations.

Caveats

All participants had type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, meaning the results may not apply to people at lower risk or those without diabetes. The findings come from a conference abstract rather than a full peer-reviewed paper, and women made up only 29% of the cohort.

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