United States: Medical evidence continues to grow, suggesting that GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic, may trigger blindness.
The latest scholarly work released this week presents reports about several patients who experienced eye complications following their initiation of semaglutide treatment or comparable drugs.
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The research paper published by University of Utah Health eye doctors, together with their international colleagues, investigates several conditions impacting vision potentially caused by these diabetic and obesity medications.
The drugs have been associated with three specific eye diseases that cause blindness, possibly as a complication, gizmodo.com reported.
The doctors emphasize that such cases by themselves cannot verify the connection between GLP-1 drugs and these issues because researchers need more information to fully understand these occurrences.
Researchers have found evidence supporting a link between two GLP-1 medications, such as semaglutide in Ozempic and Wegovy and tirzepatide in Mounjaro and Zepbound, which can raise the risk of specific eye complications.
What more are the experts stating?
Medical researchers at a specialty eye hospital reported that summer that participants getting semaglutide medication were at a higher risk for nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
This disorder stems from reduced blood supply to optic nerve fibers. Danish health officials in December 2022 demanded that the European Union establish a formal investigation into GLP-1 medications and NAION risks based on Danish resident data studies linking the drugs to NAION occurrence.
The cases identified seven subjects who got NAION after GLP-1 drug initiation, together with one person who developed optic nerve inflammation and another who developed paracentral acute middle maculopathy.
Vision loss in most affected people either improved or stopped deteriorating after they stopped their medication treatment, while select patients kept using their therapy without lasting complications.
As per the researcher’s statement, “In this case series study, it was not possible to determine if there is a causal link between these drugs and the ophthalmic complications reported,” gizmodo.com reported.