Key TakeawaysNew research found that women with a certain type of heart failure lost more weight on Wegovy than men with the same condition.On average, the women in the study lost 2.5% more weight than the men.Experts said there are a few reasons why this may have happened, and it doesn’t mean that weight loss drugs aren’t as effective for men.
Key Takeaways
New research found that women with a certain type of heart failure lost more weight on Wegovy than men with the same condition.On average, the women in the study lost 2.5% more weight than the men.Experts said there are a few reasons why this may have happened, and it doesn’t mean that weight loss drugs aren’t as effective for men.
A new study showed that Wegovy (semaglutide) may be more effective for weight loss in women who have a type of heart failure known asheart failure with preserved ejection fraction(HFpEF) compared to their male counterparts.
The medication, a type of GLP-1 receptor agonist, was initially approved for chronic weight management in 2021.Earlier this year, the indication was extended to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems in adults with heart disease who have obesity or overweight.
Experts say there are a few reasons why this may have happened, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that this medication doesn’t work as well for men.In fact, men may just need a higher dose.
What Is Heart Failure?Heart failure is a lifelong condition in which the heart muscle can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. The type of heart failure a person has is based on a measure calledejection fraction, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each contraction of the heart.Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is also calleddiastolic heart failure. Patients with HFpEF have a heart muscle that can pump normally but struggles to relax and fill with blood properly.Symptoms of HFpEFcan include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, trouble exercising, weight gain, loss of appetite, or cough.
What Is Heart Failure?
Heart failure is a lifelong condition in which the heart muscle can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. The type of heart failure a person has is based on a measure calledejection fraction, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each contraction of the heart.Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is also calleddiastolic heart failure. Patients with HFpEF have a heart muscle that can pump normally but struggles to relax and fill with blood properly.Symptoms of HFpEFcan include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, trouble exercising, weight gain, loss of appetite, or cough.
Heart failure is a lifelong condition in which the heart muscle can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. The type of heart failure a person has is based on a measure calledejection fraction, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each contraction of the heart.
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is also calleddiastolic heart failure. Patients with HFpEF have a heart muscle that can pump normally but struggles to relax and fill with blood properly.Symptoms of HFpEFcan include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, trouble exercising, weight gain, loss of appetite, or cough.
The study included data from 1,145 patients with HFpEF who were randomized to either get a weekly injection of semaglutide 2.4 mg (which is the higher dose of Wegovy) or a placebo for 52 weeks. Of the study participants, 570 were women.
The researchers also looked at some specific details about the participants. They noted that the women had higher body mass index (BMI) and worse heart failure symptoms at the start of the study compared to the men. While both men and women saw their symptoms get better when they were taking Wegovy during the study, the women lost more weight (about 9.6% of their original weight) than men (who lost about 7.2% of their body weight).
While the women lost about 2.4% more weight than men during the entire study, participants of both sexes noticed improvements in measures of heart health. Those findings align with other research that suggests the benefits of drugs like Wegovy may go beyond weight loss.
A Note on Gender and Sex Terminology
Why Women Lose More Weight Than Men
The study did not explorewhywomen seemed to lose more weight than men. However, experts have a few theories, one of which relates to men and women having differentdistributions of body fat.
Another body composition element is that men tend to have more leanmuscle massthan women. “If you’re preserving the muscle and just losing fat, women might lose a little bit more. They typically have more fat mass to lose,”Mir Ali, MD, medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, told Verywell.
The men were also much larger than the women—both in height and baseline weight.
“It is plausible that the men would have responded equivalently to women if only they were administered a higher dose of semaglutide,” said Wright.
Under normal circumstances (e.g., in the real world and not in a research setting), the medication’s dose would have been adjusted to help patients achieve a targeted amount of weight loss.
“Had that design been undertaken in this study, it is plausible that the achieved weight loss would have been similar between the sexes,” added Wright.
As the study’s authors pointed out,women have smaller heartsthan men—even when their heights and weights are comparable. As a result, they usually have less circulating blood volume.
Healthy at Every Size? Here’s What Doctors Look for Beyond BMI
Is There a Better Weight Loss Drug for Men?
Weight loss medicationsaren’t one size fits all. Some people do better with one over another, DinaPeralta-Reich, MD, the director of New York Weight Wellness Medicine, told Verywell.
“The first thing is to address if the patient is on the right dosing,” said Peralta-Reich. “With semaglutide, you have the initiation dose that you keep increasing until you reach the optimum weight loss dose,” said Peralta-Reich. From there, providers will often look at what patients eat to make sure they’re including enough foods that provide protein and other key nutrients needed to support weight loss and help maintain muscle.
But sometimes, a medication just isn’t a good fit for a patient. “Some types of obesity are not going to respond well to semaglutide,” added Peralta-Reich.
If you have HFpEF and want to lose weight and are thinking about trying medication, Ali recommends talking to a provider about all your options. For example, another medication like Zepbound (tirzepatide) may be a better fit for you, orsurgerymight be an option.
What This Means For YouIf you have HFpEF and are interested in losing weight, talk to your provider about your options. They may recommend trying a medication like Wegovy or an approach like bariatric surgery.
What This Means For You
If you have HFpEF and are interested in losing weight, talk to your provider about your options. They may recommend trying a medication like Wegovy or an approach like bariatric surgery.
GLP-1 Drugs Won’t Fix the Flaws in Obesity Care
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Heart Association.What is heart failure?.
Heidenreich PA, Bozkurt B, Aguilar D, et al.2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA guideline for the management of heart failure: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Circulation. 2022;145(18):e895-e1032. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000001063
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Heart failure.
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