Early use of tirzepatide after heart attack or stroke linked to key cardiovascular benefits
Giving patients tirzepatide early on after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or stroke is associated with several benefits, according to new findings published in The American Journal of Cardiology.[1] The study exclusively enrolled patients with no history of diabetes.
Tirzepatide is a popular dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist sold by Lilly under the brand names Zepbound and Mounjaro. It was originally developed for patients with type 2 diabetes. Like other GLP-1 drugs, tirzepatide is starting to be evaluated for more and more uses in patients with and without type 2 diabetes.
“Evidence supporting the use of tirzepatide in patients without diabetes, particularly in the early period following AMI or ischemic stroke, is limited,” wrote first author Ibrahim Mortada, MD, a researcher with The University of Texas Medical Branch, and colleagues. “Patients in the post-event setting represent a high-risk population in whom early intervention may modify long-term cardiovascular and cardiorenal outcomes, yet randomized data evaluating tirzepatide for secondary prevention in this context are lacking.”
Mortada et al. tracked data from more than 280,000 adult patients without diabetes who were hospitalized after an AMI or ischemic stroke from 2022 to 2025. Propensity score matching was used to land on two groups of 833 patients each—one group of patients given tirzepatide within 14 days and a second group that was not given tirzepatide.
Overall, after two years, the tirzepatide group was associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause emergency room visit or hospitalization, acute kidney injury, ischemic stroke and heart failure hospitalization. The risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiovascular event did not differ significantly between the two groups.
“Together, these findings provide initial real-world data addressing a clinical question not examined in prior cardiovascular outcome trials: the potential role of incretin-based therapy initiated shortly after an acute cardiovascular event in patients without diabetes,” the authors wrote.
Mortada and colleagues did emphasize that not every patient is going to be a good fit for this specific treatment strategy.
“The decision to initiate tirzepatide should be individualized, taking into account hemodynamic stability, concomitant medications, and overall clinical status, and may warrant multidisciplinary discussion and close monitoring when used soon after an acute cardiovascular event,” they wrote. “Prospective studies with dedicated safety assessment are needed to confirm optimal timing and patient selection for early post-event initiation.”
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Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.