Does a weight-loss shot help protect kidneys in people with heart disease?
Long-term kidney outcomes of semaglutide in obesity and cardiovascular disease in the SELECT trial
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Semaglutide improved kidney function in people who already had early damage.
Chronic kidney disease is usually seen as irreversible. Seeing eGFR *increase*—not just decline slower—is highly unusual in clinical trials.
Practical Takeaways
If you have obesity and heart disease, talk to your doctor about whether semaglutide could help protect your kidneys, even if you don’t have diabetes.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Semaglutide improved kidney function in people who already had early damage.
Chronic kidney disease is usually seen as irreversible. Seeing eGFR *increase*—not just decline slower—is highly unusual in clinical trials.
Practical Takeaways
If you have obesity and heart disease, talk to your doctor about whether semaglutide could help protect your kidneys, even if you don’t have diabetes.
Publication
Journal
Nature Medicine
Year
2024
Authors
H. Colhoun, I. Lingvay, Paul M. Brown, J. Deanfield, K. Brown-Frandsen, S. Kahn, Jorge Plutzky, K. Node, Alexander Parkhomenko, L. Rydén, J. P. Wilding, J. Mann, K. Tuttle, Thomas Idorn, Naveen Rathor, Michael Lincoff
Related Content
Claims (6)
If you're obese and have heart disease but not diabetes, taking semaglutide might lower your chances of having a serious heart problem by 20%.
For adults who are overweight, have heart disease, but don’t have diabetes, taking a weekly semaglutide shot might help slow down how fast their kidneys lose function each year.
Taking a weekly semaglutide shot might help protect the kidneys in people with extra weight and heart disease—even if they don’t have diabetes.
For adults who are overweight, have heart disease, and early kidney problems but not diabetes, taking a weekly semaglutide shot might help their kidneys work better over two years compared to a placebo.
The kidney benefits from taking a weekly semaglutide shot for weight and heart health probably aren't just because it lowers blood sugar or blood pressure — there might be other ways it's helping the kidneys.