Photo by Jose A.Thompson on Unsplash
Photo by Jose A.Thompson on Unsplash

EXPERT REACTION: Semaglutide linked to higher risk of eye condition

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide (Ozempic and WeGovy) may be associated with an increased risk of an eye condition that causes vision loss, according to international researchers. Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (NAION) is a condition that typically causes sudden vision loss in one eye due to a loss of blood flow to the optic nerve, and people with diabetes are at a higher risk. The researchers used eye clinic patient data to identify 710 people treating type 2 diabetes and 979 people treating overweight/obesity, either with semaglutide or an entirely different medication. Looking at NAION diagnoses, the researchers say the risk in the diabetes patients over the three-year study was 8.9% for those taking semaglutide and 1.8% for those on another medication. Among the overweight/obesity group, the risk was 6.7% and 0.8% for the semaglutide and other medication groups respectively. The researchers say this doesn't show semaglutide causes this increase in risk, but this link needs further research.

Journal/conference: JAMA Ophthalmology

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Australia

Funder: This work was funded in part by a grant from Research to Prevent Blindness

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest an association between semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, and nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. As this was an observational study, future study is required to assess causality.

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Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Professor of Pharmacology Margaret Morris is from the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of New South Wales

This is an interesting report of a potential negative consequence of prescribing the GLP-1 agonist drug semaglutide for those with diabetes, on their risk of NAION (nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy), a cause of blindness. Compared to those prescribed other drugs for diabetes, those who received semaglutide had a greater risk of NAION after 3 years (6.7% versus 0.8%).
 
Basically, the authors sound a warning that the drug may increase risk of this condition, while pointing out that more work is required to confirm any association. It is noteworthy that the group prescribed semaglutide was older than the other group, but the authors suggest the risk was not related to baseline differences. 
 
The authors point out that the retrospective nature of the research design does not permit causality to be determined, and are careful to add various caveats to their findings, including the data being generated in a tertiary setting, and the possibility of bias in those prescribed this particular drug class (for instance, the drug may have been more likely to have been used in those with more serious disease).  They call for a larger study with well described optic neuropathy diagnostic criteria to assess whether there is a casual link between eye disease and semaglutide use.

Last updated: 03 Jul 2024 4:52pm
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