Top in cardiology: New options for statin intolerance; heart benefits of Wegovy

There are many new treatment strategies for patients with statin intolerance. Finding a regimen that is acceptable to the patient may require switching agents, changing dosages or using alternative regimens, according to experts.

“A little bit of statin is better than no statin,” Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, FASPC, an associate professor in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University, told Healio. “Even if we need to add a second nonstatin medication to reduce the LDL or a nonstatin alternative altogether, lowering LDL is the ultimate goal.”

A review of strategies for statin intolerance — which is part of a Healio Exclusive series on developments and challenges in heart transplantation — was the top story in cardiology last week.

Another top story included new data from the SELECT trial that showed weekly Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg; Novo Nordisk) reduced cardiovascular risk in people with overweight or obesity without diabetes. It is the first trial to show a reduction in hard cardiovascular outcomes for an obesity treatment, according to a presenter at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

“The trial builds on existing literature demonstrating safety and cardiovascular benefit in people with diabetes and now expands it to people with obesity,” Ania M. Jastreboff, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics (endocrinology) at Yale University School of Medicine, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center and co-director of the Yale Center for Weight Management, said during a discussion of the trial results.

Read these and more top stories in cardiology below:

‘We have options’: New strategies for treating statin intolerance

Experts agree that whether statin-associated adverse effects are real or not matters little if a patient cannot or will not take the statin because of the symptoms they describe. Read more.

Semaglutide cuts cardiovascular risk by 20% in people with heart disease, obesity: SELECT

In the SELECT trial, treatment with weekly injectable semaglutide 2.4 mg was superior to placebo for reducing cardiovascular risk in adults with preexisting heart disease and overweight or obesity but without diabetes. Read more.

News you may have missed from the 2023 Cardiometabolic Health Congress

Healio and Cardiology Today have aggregated news you may have missed from the 2023 Cardiometabolic Health Congress in Boston. Read more.

‘Engagement and discussion’ key themes of AHA’s annual Scientific Sessions

The Healio team is providing live coverage of the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia. The meeting features 726 sessions, 27 late-breaker presentations and more than 4,000 abstracts. Read more.

Lower educational attainment linked to lifetime CVD risk

College graduates may have lower cardiovascular risk in middle and older age compared with individuals who did not complete college or high school earlier in life, researchers reported. Read more.