Jabs like Wegovy and Ozempic may cut the risk of life-threatening complications after a heart attack, researchers have discovered.<\/p>\n
GLP-1 drugs were found to have a powerful effect in preventing tissue damage, which has the potential to cut the risk of serious problems that affect up to half of all patients suffering a heart attack.<\/p>\n
Experts believe they could be given by paramedics at the scene if somebody has suffered a heart attack.<\/p>\n
The new study was led by the University of Bristol and University College London (UCL), and looked at GLP-1 drugs, which include semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic).<\/p>\n
Previous studies have shown the drugs can lower the risk of serious heart problems, regardless of a patient’s other health conditions or the amount of weight they lose.<\/p>\n
In the new study, experts looked at how the drugs could help reverse blockages caused by cells called pericytes, which constrict blood vessels at the onset of a heart attack and reduce blood flow.<\/p>\n
Dr Svetlana Mastitskaya, senior lecturer in cardiovascular regenerative medicine at Bristol Medical School and the study’s lead author, said: “In nearly half of all heart attack patients, tiny blood vessels within the heart muscle remain narrowed, even after the main artery is cleared during emergency medical treatment.<\/p>\n
“This results in a complication known as ‘no-reflow’, where blood is unable to reach certain parts of the heart tissue.<\/p>\n
“Our previous research has shown that this narrowing of blood vessels contributes significantly to ‘no-reflow’, a complication that increases the risk of death or hospital admission for heart failure within a year of a heart attack.<\/p>\n
“But our latest findings are surprising in that we have found GLP-1 drugs may prevent this problem.”<\/p>\n
Using mice, the team found GLP-1 drugs improved blood flow to the heart following a heart attack by activating potassium channels and thus relaxing pericytes.<\/p>\n
This allowed the blood vessels to open up, reducing the risk of further damage to the heart.<\/p>\n
Dr Mastitskaya said they could be given to patients even if they have not had the drug before.<\/p>\n
She said: “The drugs can be given by paramedics attending the patient even on the way to the hospital and\/or during surgical reopening of the occluded artery. This needs to be determined by clinical trials.”<\/p>\n
Professor David Attwell, from UCL and the study’s co-lead, said: “With an increasing number of similar GLP-1 drugs now being used in clinical practice, for conditions ranging from type 2 diabetes and obesity to kidney disease, our findings highlight the potential for these existing drugs to be repurposed to treat the risk of ‘no-reflow’ in heart attack patients, offering a potentially life-saving solution.”<\/p>\n
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jabs like Wegovy and Ozempic may cut the risk of life-threatening complications after a heart attack, researchers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1111,103,61,60,43,1112],"class_list":["post-325806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-court-and-crime","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-politics-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}