Effects of oral semaglutide on cardiovascular outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) patients. While injectable GLP-1 RAs have demonstrated efficacy in reducing cardiovascular risk, an oral formulation of semaglutide was developed to improve accessibility and treatment adherence, however, its therapeutic potential has yet to be fully elucidated. This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of oral semaglutide on cardiovascular outcomes to better inform clinical decision-making.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted in major databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) up to May 2025, with a primary outcome of cardiovascular events, expanded outcomes included nonfatal stroke, death from cardiovascular cause, and nonfatal myocardial infarction, and the secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. Statistical analysis was performed using RStudio, with heterogeneity assessed via I2 statistics.

RESULTS

A total of 13,875 patients were included, of whom 6935 received oral semaglutide and 6940 received placebo from the 5 eligible studies. A significant difference was observed for cardiovascular events with a risk ratio (RR) of 0.86 (95 % CI: 0.78-0.95; p = 0.0029; I2 = 0 %) and hazard ratio (HR) of 0.85 (95 % CI: 0.77-0.95), respectively. In contrast, no significant difference was found for nonfatal stroke, all-cause mortality, death from cardiovascular causes, and nonfatal myocardial infarction.

CONCLUSION

The meta-analysis revealed that oral semaglutide was cardioprotective in T2DM patients with consistent reductions in cardiovascular event risk. However, the lack of significance in the remaining outcomes underscores the need for further investigation.