{"id":5059,"date":"2025-08-17T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5059\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T14:10:10","slug":"ozempic-and-other-weight-loss-drugs-linked-to-rare-but-serious-eye-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5059\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs linked to rare but serious eye conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do the new studies say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two newly published studies investigated people with type 2 diabetes living in the United States over two years. The studies looked at the medical records of 159,000 to 185,000 people.<\/p>\n

One study<\/a>\u00a0found semaglutide or tirzepatide was associated with a more modest risk of developing NAION than previously thought. Of 159,000 people with type 2 diabetes who were taking these drugs, 35 people (0.04%) developed NAION, compared with 19 patients (0.02%) in the comparison group.<\/p>\n

The researchers also found an increased risk of developing \u201cother optic nerve disorders\u201d. However, it\u2019s unclear what kind of optic nerve disorders this includes, as the medical record codes used didn\u2019t specify.<\/p>\n

Counter to this, the\u00a0second study<\/a>\u00a0did not find an increased risk of NAION among those taking GLP-1 drugs.<\/p>\n

However, the researchers found a small increase in the number of people developing diabetic retinopathy in those prescribed GLP-1 drugs. But overall, participants on GLP-1 drugs experienced fewer sight-threatening complications related to their diabetic retinopathy and required less invasive eye treatments compared to the group taking other diabetes medications.<\/p>\n

Further studies are still needed to understand how GLP-1 drugs can lead to eye complications. A current,\u00a0five-year clinical trial<\/a>\u00a0is studying the long-term effects of semaglutides and diabetic eye disease in 1,500 people, which should tell us more about the ocular risks in the future.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for people taking GLP-1 drugs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NAION is a serious condition. But we need to strike a balance between these (and other)\u00a0risks and the benefits<\/a>\u00a0of GLP-1 medications in diabetes care, obesity treatment, reducing heart attack risks and extending lives.<\/p>\n

The key lies in informed decision-making and identifying different levels of risk. People with multiple NAION risk factors \u2013 such as sleep apnoea, high blood pressure and diabetes \u2013 should undergo careful consideration with their treating doctor before starting these medications.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrowded\u201d optic nerve heads are also a risk factor for NAION. This is an anatomical feature where blood vessels at the optic nerve head are tightly packed together. People with crowded optic nerve heads should also undergo careful consideration before starting GLP-1 medications.<\/p>\n

Although NAION can strike without warning, regular comprehensive eye examinations with your optometrist or ophthalmologist still serve important purposes. They can detect other drug-related eye problems, including worsening diabetic retinopathy, and can identify patients with crowded optic nerve heads. It\u2019s also important to tell them if you are taking GLP-1 medications so they can keep a close watch on your eye health.<\/p>\n

Emerging research<\/a>\u00a0also suggests that improving your heart health might help reduce risks of developing NAION. This includes proper management of high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol \u2013 all conditions that compromise the small blood vessels feeding the optic nerve. Studies<\/a>\u00a0also show patients with heart conditions who better adhere to their medication prescriptions have lower risks of NAION than those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Doctors should discuss NAION risks during prescribing decisions and work with eye care providers to monitor regularly for diabetic eye disease. Patients need clear instructions to seek immediate medical attention for sudden vision loss and the need for regular eye examinations.<\/p>\n

Aggressive treatment of sleep apnoea and other heart conditions may also help reduce NAION risks. But for now, there remains an ongoing need for more research to understand how GLP-1 medications can affect the eye.<\/p>\n

Flora Hui<\/a>, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology),\u00a0The University of Melbourne<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Pete A Williams<\/a>, Ulla and Ingemar Dahlberg Professor in Vision Science, Research Group Leader,\u00a0Karolinska Institutet<\/a><\/p>\n

This article is republished from\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>\u00a0under a Creative Commons license. Read the\u00a0original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do the new studies say? Two newly published studies investigated people with type 2 diabetes living in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[5361,18,5358,135,19,17,5362,2927,5359,5360],"class_list":{"0":"post-5059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-diabetes-care","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-eyesight","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-mounjaro","15":"tag-ozempic","16":"tag-wegovy","17":"tag-weight-loss-drugs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}