A recent study published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology evaluated associations between semaglutide and the risk of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). NAION is a significant cause of adult blindness and the second most common optic neuropathy. Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonist (RA) approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Weekly new prescriptions of these and other GLP-1 RAs have increased by 60% in the US between 2021 and 2023. However, anecdotal reports suggest that semaglutide might be associated with NAION. Study: Risk of Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy in Patients Prescribed Semaglutide .
Image Credit: MattL_Images / Shutterstock In the present study, researchers evaluated the risk of NAION among semaglutide users. Patients referred to a clinic for neuro-ophthalmology indications between December 2017 and November 2023 were identified for inclusion from the Massachusetts General Brigham centralized data registry. Electronic health records were queried to identify NAION events.
Each identified record was reviewed manually to confirm the NAION diagnosis. People with overweight/obesity or T2D were separately analyzed. Individuals who did not use semaglutide were included for comparison.
Sex/gender and race were self-reported. The study populations were T2D patients prescribed semaglutide or non-GLP-1 RA anti-diabetic medicines and obese/o.