Advances in Heart Meds and Devices: Recent Advances That Could Help Your Heart

Every year, doctors learn more about heart conditions and how to diagnose and treat them. Here are a few recent advances to help older adults keep their heart in good health.

GLP-1 Drugs Reduce Heart Risk Factors

You’ve probably heard about GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro. Millions of Americans now take these drugs to lose weight. Designed to make you feel full more quickly and reduce your appetite, these medications can even make you less likely to reach for sugary or fatty snacks.

“Those are literally game changers in medicine,” says Naga Pannala, MD, an ArchWell Health cardiologist.

GLP-1 drugs can help your heart, too, since obesity increases your risk for heart failure, coronary artery disease, and stroke. In fact, the drugs can cut the risk of heart failure, hospitalization, or death by more than 40%, according to one study.

In 2025, the American College of Cardiology began recommending the drugs as a first-line treatment for weight management. It said patients shouldn’t have to “try and fail” at lifestyle changes before starting on a GLP-1 drug.

“The big underlying thinking with obesity is that it’s a chronic disease; it is not like a mindset kind of thing,” Pannala says.

Still, lifestyle changes are important. It’s always a good idea to stop smoking, increase physical activity, and get your blood pressure and cholesterol under control. One study found that people cut their risk of a major cardiovascular event by 50% when they took a GLP-1 drug and adopted six or more healthy lifestyle habits. People who only took the drug cut their risk by just 20%.

AI Enhances EGC Readings

Doctors use electrocardiograms (ECGs) all the time to check for heart problems. This simple, noninvasive procedure can detect an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), a blocked artery, or even a previous heart attack.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that interpreting ECG readings can be tricky.

ECGs have been around since 1902, but now they’re getting a high-tech makeover. Physicians are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help them read ECGs.

“It’s kind of an amazing tool, “says Pannala. “It’s not going to spit out your answer on what is going on, but it will give suggestions.”

In 2024, the Cleveland Clinic used AI on 103,492 ECGs from 45,873 patients to see if they might have a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This condition can be hard to diagnose with an ECG, because many other conditions cause the same abnormalities.

AI flagged 1,265 patients’ ECGs as suspicious, and 63 patients (5%) turned out to have HCM. As the study’s coauthor noted, “If AI-enhanced ECG can alert to the possibility of this diagnosis, as this study suggests is the case, this can lead to earlier appropriate diagnostic testing and treatment.”

Providers at ArchWell Health are also using AI to take notes during visits in real time. “You just start that process, and it transcribes a note,” Pannala says. “Instead of looking at the computer, you’re having a more personal interaction.”

Remote Monitoring

Another technology that’s growing in popularity is remote monitoring (RM). It’s been around for a while, but it picked up in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advances in wireless networks and AI have made the technology even more useful.

With RM, you wear a device, or have one implanted, to monitor heart activity. When trouble happens, you—and sometimes your provider—get an instant alert. That means a heart attack doesn’t have to be the first sign that something’s wrong.

If you have an Apple Watch, you can even check your heart rate, take an ECG, and monitor your heart for atrial fibrillation (AFib). And you can set the watch to alert you of any problems. (Other smart devices offer similar features.)

“This actually has improved rates of detection for atrial fibrillation,” Pannala says. “That’s relevant for our population because your risk of AFib increases as you age.”

Promising New Drugs

Researchers continue to develop and test new medications for heart problems. One example is the new blood pressure medicine aprocitentan (brand name Tryvio). American Family Physician called it “the first novel medication mechanism for the treatment of hypertension in almost 40 years.”

Aprocitentan breaks new ground, but it’s only approved for patients who’ve tried at least three other high blood pressure medicines. And, like all medications, it does have some side effects. Still, it’s a good example of how scientists continue tackling problems like high blood pressure.

Heart problems are some of the most serious problems older adults can face. These and other recent advances give doctors the tools they need to help patients stay healthier longer.