A new study has found patients prescribed semaglutide for diabetes or weight loss had a higher risk of developing a blinding eye condition.
It was found that patients prescribed semaglutide – more commonly known under brand names Ozempic and Wegovy – were four times more likely to be diagnosed with non-arteric anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) than similar patients who had not been prescribed these drugs.
Since its launch as Ozempic for diabetes in 2017, semaglutide – originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes by promoting weight loss – has significantly increased in popularity. It was also approved for weight management, branded as Wegovy, and released in 2021.
The retrospective matched cohort study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, analysed data from 16,827 patients at the Mass Eye and Ear Harvard teaching hospital in the US, who received treatment from 2017 to 2023.
Researchers found 8.9% of these patients on semaglutide had NAION compared with 1.8% on other drugs, over a three-year period.
Meanwhile, those who were overweight or had obesity and prescribed this drug were more than seven times more likely be diagnosed. Over three years, 6.7% of cohort on semaglutide had NAION compared with 0.8% who were taking other weight-loss drugs.
NAION is said to be relatively rare, occurring in approximately 10 out of 100,000 individuals per year and is the second-leading cause of optic nerve blindness. It is the most common cause of sudden optic nerve blindness.
NAION is thought to be caused by reduced blood flow to the optic nerve head, with the consequence of permanent visual loss in one eye.
The study does not prove causality, and why there was a difference reported in diabetic and overweight groups.
“This study’s findings suggest an association between semaglutide and NAION. As this was an observational study, future study is required to assess causality,” the study authors concluded.
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