AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 7, 2026, 02:14 GMT

Diabetes drugs not linked to worse outcomes in one heart failure group

The adjusted hazard ratio, comparing risk over time, was 0.88 versus other diabetes drugs for heart failure hospitalization or death; the likely range included no difference.

Paper by Irfan Helmy, Padmini Selvaganesan, Mohamad Karnib, +4Varun Sundaram · Case Western Reserve Univ Sch of Medicine

A heart with open chambers is surrounded by upright faceless people and smaller blue-green and gray hearts with similarly intact walls.

Our read

Interventions

Studied:: Cohort study of 2,262 patients with obesity, diabetes, and HFmrEF, median 2.8 years (Multicenter)
The catch:: Unrecorded health differences or prescribing decisions could influence drug choice and outcomes
In the record:: The 1,345th paper on GLP-1 receptor agonists with results in people; 4,739 on record in all.
Why it’s aging research:: It studies an intervention with evidence of extending healthy life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

At 170 US Veterans Affairs hospitals, 2,262 patients with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart failure with mildly reduced pumping function were included in an observational cohort study. Their average age was 68.7 years; 97.6% were male. The study compared people starting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, a diabetes drug class, with those starting dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors or sulfonylureas, two other diabetes drug classes.

Over a median 2.8 years, unadjusted rates of heart failure hospitalization or death were 16.7 events per 100 person-years in the first group and 15.0 in the comparison group. After accounting for measured differences between patients, the drugs at diabetes-management doses were not associated with higher risk of this combined outcome. A separate analysis found no difference in heart failure hospitalization.

Why it matters

For older people managing diabetes, obesity and heart failure together, the study addresses concerns that this drug class might worsen heart-related outcomes.

Caveats

Health differences or prescribing decisions not captured in the records could have influenced both drug choice and outcomes. The cohort was overwhelmingly male, and the findings did not address higher doses used for weight loss.