Type-2 diabetes is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events. Recent evidence suggests the safety of oral semaglutide in improving cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type-2 diabetes. This study aims to evaluate the effect of oral semaglutide on the first incidence of cardiovascular events in type-2 diabetes patients.
This is an event-driven, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted on a total of 3,183 patients with type-2 diabetes who are at high cardiovascular risk. The participants were randomly assigned to once-daily oral semaglutide or placebo. The main outcome of the study is the first occurrence of a major adverse cardiovascular event (stroke, myocardial infarction, or death).
Major adverse cardiovascular events were reported in 61 of 1,591 (3.8%) of participants in the semaglutide group and 76 of 1,592 (4.8%) in the placebo group. The number of deaths was 15 (0.9%) in the oral semaglutide group and 30 (1.9%) in the placebo group. All-cause deaths were also lower in the oral semaglutide group (1.4%) than in the placebo group (2.8%). Adverse gastrointestinal events were more common with oral semaglutide.
The research concluded that in type-2 diabetes patients, the risk of cardiovascular events was lower with semaglutide, but the difference was not too significant.
Ref: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1901118
