Taking CoQ10 to Lower Blood Pressure
Medicare Will Now Cover Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy. Here's What This Means For Healthcare
Still life of Wegovy an injectable prescription weight loss medicine that has helped people with ... [+] obesity. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesWegovy, a popular weight-loss drug in high demand, can now be covered by Medicare and Medicaid provided patients using it have heart disease.
A recent trial that enrolled over 17,000 participants demonstrated that Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease by 20% compared to placebo. The more than 17,000 participants that enrolled in the study were overweight or obese and had established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes. The landmark trial was the first to show that a class of obesity drugs could provide long-term benefits to heart health in those that were overweight or obese.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, mimics the naturally occurring hormone Glucagon-Like-Peptide-1 which delays the emptying of food from the stomach and acts on hunger centers in the brain to reduce cravings. It also stimulates the pancreas to release insulin to decrease blood sugar levels.
Now that Medicare will cover Wegovy, many other drug manufacturers will also look to get approval of additional anti-obesity medications if they can demonstrate benefit of the drug outside of purely weight loss. Zepbound, for example, is a similar but different drug used to treat obesity that is currently not covered by Medicare and Medicaid. According to reports from Reuters, obesity experts believe that Eli Lilly, Zepbound's manufacturer, will demonstrate evidence that their drug will also provide cardiovascular benefits in addition to weight loss. This trend could open the door for many drug companies to accelerate research in an effort to show their drugs provide added benefit to obtain Medicare coverage.
Wegovy is not cheap by any means and remains in high demand. A monthly supply of the drug can cost over $13,000, according to information from SingleCare. This could result in enormous healthcare spending by the federal government, with analysts forecasting the market for weight-loss drugs reaching $100 billion a year by the end of the decade, according to reports from Reuters. The demand for these drugs will likely supersede the supply, as 5% of Americans have coronary heart disease (the most common form of heart disease) and more than 2 in 5 American adults have obesity, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
As Wegovy becomes more popular and is prescribed more often, the propensity for side effects will also be amplified in the population. Although generally a safe drug, common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation. Rarely, the drug can be associated with inflammation of the pancreas, gallbladder problems, kidney failure, depression, suicidal thoughts and even some thyroid tumors. Those that take Wegovy would need to be monitored carefully for some of these more serious side effects.
Finally, an unintended consequence of Wegovy becoming more accessible could be patients attempting to obtain diagnoses of heart diseases in an effort to get Wegovy cheaper from Medicare coverage. Medicare will cover Wegovy for overweight patients or obese patients with heart disease, but not for obesity alone. But what exactly does heart disease mean? Do patients that experience transitory high blood pressure qualify for Medicare coverage of Wegovy since high blood pressure is a clear risk factor for heart disease? Patients may blur the line in attempting to present themselves as patients of heart disease, and physicians may start prescribing Wegovy based on the presumption of reducing the risk of heart disease in certain patients that would otherwise only have minimal risk.
Despite financial hurdles and unintended public health consequences, Wegovy becoming more accessible through Medicare coverage could put a dent in cardiovascular disease, which remains the number one cause of death in America. In addition, it could simultaneously curb the obesity epidemic in America, providing relief to millions of Americans.
Rebel Wilson Shared She Briefly Used Ozempic In Weight Loss Journey
Rebel Wilson is getting candid about her weight loss journey.
During her interview with The Sunday Times, the "Pitch Perfect" star shared she has tried weight loss drug Ozempic as one of the methods to help maintain her size.
Discussing the medication, which use has skyrocketed in popularity over the past year, Wilson told the outlet, "Someone like me could have a bottomless appetite for sweets, so I think those drugs can be good."
MORE: Rebel Wilson opens up on losing virginity at 35: 'You shouldn't feel pressure as a young person'Noting that she is no longer using the drug, the Australian actress explained her decision to slim down came after her fertility doctor shared it would help increase her chance of success at in-vitro fertilization.
"Basically no one apart from my mom wanted me to lose weight," Wilson said. "People thought I'd lose my pigeonhole in my career, playing the fat funny character, and they wanted me to continue in that."
Ozempic is one of a class of drugs called GLP-1 RAs that help people produce insulin and lower the amount of sugar in the blood. The drugs work by slowing down movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss for some.
Ozempic's active ingredient is semaglutide, it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, and can be prescribed off-label for weight loss, as is allowed by the FDA. The same medication is approved under the name Wegovy and is approved to treat Obesity or weight loss for someone who has a comorbidity like high blood pressure.
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Wilson has shared previously that she transformed her life after committing to a "year of health" in 2020.
At the time, Wilson said she had also committed to working on her mental health in addition to her physical health.
Rebel Wilson is seen in New York City, March 29, 2024.
Mediapunch/Getty Images
"I'm like, 'I need to do a really holistic approach this time,'" the actress said during an appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in November 2020. "I think what I mainly suffered from was emotional eating and dealing with the stress of becoming famous internationally ... There is a lot of stress that comes with it and I guess my way of dealing with it was eating doughnuts."
Earlier this year, Wilson shared in an Instagram post that she recently gained 30 pounds, noting that she has been busy working on new movies and a new memoir, which has led to stress.
"Working really hard has meant that, coz of all the stress, I've gained 14kg's (30 pounds)! It makes me feel bad about myself…it shouldn't…but it does," Wilson wrote alongside a short video and photo of herself. "I'm really proud of the work I've been doing on new movies and my memoir, it's just been a LOT and I've lost focus on my healthy lifestyle."
Wilson's relatable struggle with regaining some of the weight that she lost seemed to resonate with her followers on Instagram, where her post has received over 150,000 likes, and supportive comments.
Wilson later updated her post at the time to thank her followers for their support, writing, "Update: I woke up this morning and read all your comments - they bring a tear to my eye. Thanks everyone!"
Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Linked To Better Heart Health, Lower Blood Pressure
Bariatric surgery may result in significant cardiometabolic improvements, particularly among younger, female, or white people and those without co-morbidities, according to new research published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
In their study, researchers evaluated more than 7,800 people between the ages of 20 and 79 who underwent bariatric surgery.
Most participants were white and female, but the researchers noted there was also a significant number of male and Black individuals, a group typically underrepresented in bariatric surgery research.
The scientists looked for cardiometabolic improvements, such as:
They also measured remission rates of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia and estimated the 10-year cardiovascular disease risk.
The researchers reported that older, male, and Black study participants showed a minor reduction in 10-year heart disease risk and had lower odds of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia remission than younger, female, or white participants.
Participants with a history of these diseases also showed less cardiometabolic improvements than those without.
"I believe the researchers had a small sample size of older Black males and to come to firm conclusions, we would need a larger sample size," said Dr. Mir Ali, a bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in California who was not involved in the study. "That said, I do believe genetic factors can contribute to obesity and Black people have more genetic factors for obesity."
"Despite that, I still suggest surgery for older Black males," Ali told Medical News Today. "Bariatric surgery is still the far best way to lose weight and there were improvements in cardiometabolic health – just not as much as the younger, white group."
The study authors noted that:
"Bariatric surgery is a tool that makes eating less, eating healthier foods, and activity more feasible," said Dr. Mitchell Roslin, the chief of bariatric surgery at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who was not involved in the study. "It is still going to be subject to socioeconomic factors and the environment and stresses people face."
"Severe obesity is deadly," Roslin told Medical News Today. "It creates a phase change. Thus, people's bodies are 10 to 20 years older than their chronological age. Heart disease is the biggest killer. Bariatric surgery slows the clock and helps restore someone closer to their real age."
The term bariatric surgery encompasses different types of treatments for obesity:
Weight loss surgery alters the stomach's anatomy to reduce the amount of food eaten and digested, according to Yale Medicine. It can also improve and sometimes reverse obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and chronic pain, especially in the hips and knees.
"Bariatric surgery is a major surgery to help people lose weight, but it leads to more than just weight loss," Ali said. "There are metabolic changes that occur after surgery, such as changes in hormones that could contribute to obesity and heart health. The current study explores this, but much research is still going on to help us better understand it."
"It is important for people to understand that bariatric surgery and the new weight loss medications are tools to help people change," he added. "Adjusting eating and lifestyle habits is essential for long-term success."
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