AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 9, 2026, 01:54 GMT

Drug use linked to longer survival with high lung blood pressure

Five-year survival was 77.7% among users of drugs including semaglutide, versus 68.5% among nonusers in adults with precapillary pulmonary hypertension.

Paper by Mohammed Tiseer Abbas, Abdallah Alhalbouni, Melinda Sager, +9Luis Afonso · Wayne State University

Lungs with branching vessels sit among many blue-green figures near a folded molecular chain and fewer gray figures scattered farther apart.

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Interventions

Studied:: Cohort study of 11,558 adults with precapillary pulmonary hypertension, 5 years, against nonusers
What changed:: Estimated survival at five years was higher among drug users: 77.7% versus 68.5% among nonusers
The catch:: Users and nonusers could differ in illness severity or care despite matching
In the record:: The 1,379th paper on GLP-1 receptor agonists with results in people; 4,853 on record in all. Its result on mortality agrees with 198 of 219 other findings on record; 2 point the other way and 19 found no change.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

The 11,558 adults in a matched observational cohort had precapillary pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the lung arteries. Their median age was 64, and 59.7% were women. The retrospective study used medical records to compare people who used drugs including semaglutide and liraglutide within three months of diagnosis with nonusers. Researchers matched the groups on demographics, health conditions and medication use.

Drug use was associated with higher estimated survival at one, three and five years. At five years, estimated survival was 77.7% among users and 68.5% among nonusers. At one year, the figures were 94.4% and 86.7%, respectively.

Why it matters

Survival with progressive pulmonary hypertension matters for health in later life. The authors called for prospective evaluation to test whether these drugs improve survival.

Caveats

Users and nonusers may still have differed in illness severity or care despite matching. The findings came from a conference abstract, and the cohort excluded people with heart failure or cardiomyopathy.