Evidence receipt
SUSTAIN-6: what the trial found
A plain-language summary of one study: who took part, what they got, what it was compared with, what happened in each group, its limits and who paid for it. One trial. Results are group averages, not a prediction for any one person.
Study: SUSTAIN-6[1]
Does weekly semaglutide change the risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death in people with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk?
- Who was in it
- 3,297 adults with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk, on standard care
- What they got
- Semaglutide 0.5 mg or 1 mg injection once a week
- Compared with
- Placebo
- How long
- 104 weeks
- What happened
- Heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death: 6.6% on semaglutide vs 8.9% on placebo. Diabetic eye (retinopathy) complications were more common with semaglutide.
- Relative effect
- Hazard ratio 0.74 for the combined heart outcome
- Limits
- Designed to show safety (non-inferiority); the benefit was not the pre-planned test
- Relatively small and short for a heart-outcomes trial
- Funded by
- Novo Nordisk
Summary by Joshua Nichvolodoff, from the published paper — not written by the study's authors. Clinical review: not yet reviewed by a clinician.
Sources
- Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes (SUSTAIN-6). New England Journal of Medicine, November 10, 2016. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27633186/ · DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa1607141 · PMID 27633186. Accessed November 2, 2026. Back to the text
Discussed in: Semaglutide, explained · Ozempic, explained
General information, not medical advice.