At risk of blindness: Study focuses on diabetes and weight loss drugs

A study found that people prescribed semaglutide, marketed as Ozempic y Wegovy —Diabetes and weight loss drugs—have a increased risk of developing a form of blindness infrequent.

Behind it would be a disease of the optic nerve known as Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (Noiana)potentially blinding. The work is led by Joseph Rizzofrom the hospital Mass Eye and Ear and professor of the Harvard Medical Schooland the results are published in the journal “JAMA Ophthalmology” and reported by the EFE agency.

Specifically, the observational—not causal—study found that people with type 2 diabetes Those who had been prescribed semaglutide by their doctor were more than four times as likely to be prescribed diagnosticara Noiana; lPeople who were overweight or obese had seven times more.

“The use of these drugs has skyrocketed in all industrialized countries and they have provided very significant benefits in many respects, but future discussions between a patient and their physician should include Noiana as a potential risk,” says Rizzo, especially if patients have other known optic nerve problems, such as glaucoma.

However, it is important to note that the increased risk is associated with a relatively rare disorder, warns the researcher in a statement from Mass Eye and Ear, a teaching hospital at Harvard Medical School.

What is Noiana?

The Noiana is relatively rare, occurring in up to 10 in every 100,000 people. of the general population; it is the second cause of optic nerve blindness (only surpassed by glaucoma).

The study began in late summer 2023. The neurooftalmólogos del Mass Eye and Ear They noted that three patients in their practice had been diagnosed with vision loss from this relatively rare disease within just one week; the doctors noted that all three were taking semaglutide.

This led the team to conduct a retrospective analysis of their patient population to see if they could identify a relationship.

The researchers analyzed the records of 16,827 patients treated for six years and divided them into those who were diagnosed with diabetes or overweight/obesity.

The researchers compared those prescribed semaglutide with those taking other diabetes or weight-loss drugs. They then looked at the rate of Noiana diagnoses in the two groups, which revealed the increased risk.

As far as people with type 2 diabetes (194 treated with semaglutide versus 516 with other types of medication), were diagnosed 17 cases of Noiana in patients taking semaglutide, compared with 6 in the other group. Over three years, the cumulative incidence was 8.9% and 1.8%, respectively.

In people with overweight and obesity (361 with semaglutide and 618 with other treatment), 20 Noiana events were recorded compared to 3. In three years the cumulative incidence was 6.7% and 0.8%, respectively.

Limitations of the study

He Mass Eye and Ear cares for an unusually high number of people with rare eye diseases, the study population is predominantly white and the number of Noiana cases observed over the six-year study period is relatively small.

The researchers also could not determine whether the patients actually took semaglutide or stopped taking it at some point, or how this might have influenced their risk.

It is important to note that the study does not prove causality and researchers do not know why or how this association exists, and why there was a difference in the diabetic and overweight groups.

“Our findings should be considered significant but provisional, as future studies are needed to examine these questions in a much larger and more diverse population,” Rizzo said.