CarlaRPh_TPA ↑ said:

Prescribed on cardiovascular grounds rather than for weight, and almost everything written for patients assumes the opposite.

Continuous metabolic monitoring dashboard for cardiovascular risk — I track everything in a spreadsheet and here's the month-over-month trend for my key markers:

Weight: consistent downtrend, -2.3 lbs/week average
Fasting glucose (finger stick): stable at 84 mg/dL
Blood pressure (home): 118/74 average
Resting heart rate: 64 bpm (down from 80)
Waist circumference: down 14 inches total

The resting heart rate improvement correlates with cardiovascular fitness gains. Everything is moving in the right direction.

PeptideChemSF ↑ said:

The "earlier than weight loss explains" argument is weaker than this thread makes it sound.

I want to bring up the cardiovascular angle on cardiovascular risk.

The SELECT trial demonstrated a 20% reduction in MACE with semaglutide 2.4mg[1]. This is practice-changing because the CV benefit appears to be independent of the degree of weight loss — suggesting direct vascular and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

For cardiovascular risk, this means we need to think beyond the primary outcome and consider the cardiovascular implications. The all-cause mortality reduction (HR 0.81) is the most clinically meaningful signal.

One thing that is still open after patPC_UT’s answer:

Was that from a primary source or from a summary of one?

claudia_zurich ↑ said:

I want to bring up the cardiovascular angle on cardiovascular risk.

Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of GLP-1 agonists and cardiovascular risk: beyond weight loss, GLP-1R activation directly suppresses NF-κB signaling, reduces NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and decreases monocyte/macrophage adhesion to endothelium[1].

Clinical correlates: hsCRP reduction of 30-60% (consistently seen across trials), reduced carotid intima-media thickness, and decreased coronary plaque inflammation on PET imaging.

These anti-inflammatory effects likely contribute to the cardiovascular benefit seen in SELECT — and may explain benefits beyond what weight loss alone would predict.