FRIDAY, Aug. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For individuals with type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, adding tirzepatide to standard-of-care treatment is associated with a reduction in the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), according to a study published online Aug. 5 in The BMJ.
Nils Krüger, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study involving 52,971 participants aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who initiated tirzepatide (35,353 participants) or sitagliptin (17,618 participants) to estimate the magnitude of reduction in MACE with the addition of tirzepatide to standard-of-care treatment.
The researchers found that the weighted one-year risk for MACE was 2.9 and 4.4 percent in the tirzepatide and sitagliptin groups, respectively, corresponding to a hazard ratio of 0.68. In terms of individual MACE components, the risk for myocardial infarction was lower in association with tirzepatide (hazard ratio, 0.67), while no meaningful difference was seen in ischemic stroke. Infections requiring hospital admission, infection-related mortality, and all-cause mortality were all lower with tirzepatide (hazard ratio, 0.64, 0.40, and 0.55, respectively). No association was seen with negative control outcomes.
"The data on infections surprised us because the findings were so striking. There is evidence that obesity promotes inflammatory processes in the body, which may in turn impair immune function," Krüger said in a statement. "The exact mechanisms and whether this apparent benefit would also occur without weight loss now need to be investigated."
One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
