Preprints.orgNov 12, 2026, 10:29 GMT

Semaglutide linked to lower heart age estimates in adults with obesity

After 12 months, estimated heart age relative to actual age fell 0.73 years with semaglutide, versus no significant change after weight-loss surgery.

Paper by Karthik Murugadoss, Aj Venkatakrishnan, Venky Soundararajan

Heart cross-sections have smaller and larger gray patches, with broader figures and a molecular strand beside one and slimmer figures beside the other.

Our read

Biomarkers

Studied:: Preprint: cohort study of adults with obesity, 12 months, against patients undergoing weight-loss surgery
What changed:: Estimated heart age relative to actual age fell 1.28 years more with semaglutide than after weight-loss surgery at 12 months
The catch:: Heart age was an estimate from electrical recordings
In the record:: The 702nd paper on semaglutide with results in people; 1,765 on record in all. Its result on mortality agrees with 27 of 30 other findings on record; 2 point the other way and 1 found no change.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Adults with obesity who started semaglutide were compared with patients undergoing weight-loss surgery in a matched observational study of 2,549 pairs. Another comparison included 950 matched pairs taking semaglutide or tirzepatide for at least six months.

An artificial intelligence model estimated age from electrocardiograms, recordings of the heart’s electrical activity. Researchers tracked estimated age minus actual age. At 12 months, this gap fell 0.73 years from baseline with semaglutide but did not change significantly after surgery. The change favored semaglutide by 1.28 years. Average weight loss was 4.8% with semaglutide and 25.6% after surgery. The gap also fell with tirzepatide, but its largest difference from semaglutide was not statistically significant.

Why it matters

The authors suggest that heart age estimated from electrical recordings may capture effects of these drugs on heart aging independent of weight loss.

Caveats

The comparisons involved adults with obesity, and matching could not rule out other health differences between medication and surgery patients. Heart age was an estimate from electrical recordings, and this preprint has not been peer-reviewed.