Research

Hormonal

Once-weekly semaglutide treatment is associated with a significant increase in pulse rate compared to once-daily sitagliptin.

If you take semaglutide, expect your resting heart rate to increase slightly (by about 3 beats per minute) compared to if you took sitagliptin. This is a known side effect. While usually not dangerous, it is worth monitoring, especially if you have underlying heart conditions.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
however, there was an observed increase in pulse rate (WMD: 3.33; 95% ci: 1.61, 5.06, p-value: <0.00001; i2: 100%) associated with semaglutide treatment.
Tirath Patel et al. · Annals of Medicine · 2023

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of 3 RCTs, high heterogeneity (I2=100%).

Source

Comparative efficacy and safety profile of once-weekly Semaglutide versus once-daily Sitagliptin as an add-on to metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Tirath Patel et al. · Annals of Medicine · 2023

DOI 10.1080/07853890.2023.2239830

Meta-analysis · 3 studiesCited 12×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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