Research

Hormonal

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) reduce major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes, particularly those with established cardiovascular disease.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes and existing heart disease or high risk, GLP-1 receptor agonists (like liraglutide or semaglutide) are proven to significantly lower your risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. This benefit exists alongside blood sugar control. However, if you have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, these drugs may increase risks, so discuss your specific heart condition with your doctor before starting.

StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Multi-country, multi-center long-term cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) confirmed that GLP-1RAs decrease cardiovascular mortality and provide cardiovascular benefits to reduce the incidence of MI or non-fatal stroke [3]. For example, in the LEADER trial, when compared with placebo, liraglutide decreased the incidence of major cardiovascular events by 13%, cardiovascular death by 22% and all-cause death by 15% among T2DM patients with CVD, on a standard treatment basis [4].
Xiaoxuan Ma et al. · International Journal of Biological Sciences · 2021

Why this rating

Based on multiple large-scale, multi-center, long-term cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) including LEADER, SUSTAIN-6, and REWIND.

Source

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs): cardiovascular actions and therapeutic potential

Xiaoxuan Ma et al. · International Journal of Biological Sciences · 2021

DOI 10.7150/ijbs.59965

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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