Diabetic patients taking GLP-1 may face an increase in risk of eye diseases, suggests

Diabetes is the leading cause of loss of vision in people between the ages of 18 and 64, according to the American Diabetes Association, and the best way to avoid controlling blood sugar levels.

Petptid-1-similar glucagon (GLP-1s), such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, have become popular medicines for controlling diabetes and treating obesity, but new Canadian research suggests that they can also cause a paradoxical side effect in the form of eye problems.

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A retrospective study from January 2020 to November 2023 included more than 139,000 diabetic patients, some of whom took GLP-1 for at least six months and some who did not take medicines for a period of three years.

The average age of participants was 66 years and about 47% were women.

The researchers found that participants taking medicines to lose their weight had twice the risk of developing macular degeneration related to the neovascular age (NAMD) compared to those who did not take them.

“There have been growing reports of [eye] Adverse events with GLP-1 receptor agonists, but there is no clear consensus on its impact on the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the author of the study, Dr. Rajeev Muni, an ophthalmologist and vice president of clinical research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences of the University of Toronto, told Fox News Digital.

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“In particular, we observed a dose response relationship: the longest patients were exposed to these medicines, the greater it seemed to be their risk,” added the author of Shor, researcher at the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at the University of Toronto.

The findings were published in Jama Ophthalmology.

What is age -related macular degeneration?

Age -related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of loss of vision in those of 50 years and more in the developing world, according to the American Society of Retina Specialists.

About 20 million adults in the United States have the condition.

It mainly affects the central vision of the people, which means that they have difficult time to see it, but their peripheral vision is intact, according to the National Health Institutes (NIH).

There are two types of AMD: dry and damp.

Dry AMD, the most common type, occurs when small yellow protein tanks develop under the macula, but it is possible that the symptoms do not occur in the early stages, according to experts.

“The longer patients were exposed to these medicines, the greater it seemed to be their risk.”

In approximately two out of ten cases, the dry AMD becomes wet AMD, also known as macular degeneration related to the neovascular age (NAMD).

With this type of advanced disease, abnormal blood vessels are formed under the retina and begin to filter -causing damage to the central part of the retina, known as the macula, according to WebMD.

“When this occurs, the symptoms include central vision loss, distortions in the vision and blank areas that are missing in central vision,” said Nishiika Reddy, MD, an Ophthalmology Assistant Professor at the Midvalley Health Center at Moran Eye Center at Utah University, at Fox News Digital. (Was not part of the study.)

NAMD risk factors include chronic heart failure, chronic kidney disease and diabetes, which are often overlapping with GLP-1, confirmed experts.

Limitations and recommendations

The study’s authors warned that their findings should be taken in the highest overall risk context of eye diseases in the elderly.

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The incidence of NAMD in the general population is approximately one in 1,000, and doubled up to two out of 1,000 for the GLP-1 group in the study.

However, the overall absolute risk is still small, according to researchers.

The main limitation of the study is that it was an observational nature, which means that researchers could not confirm that GLP-1 medicines caused macular degeneration related to the neovascular age.

Researchers acknowledged that the study could not draw conclusions from the younger populations.

“In addition, our findings are applied only to diabetic patients 66 or older and cannot be generalized directly to non-diabetic people who use GLP-1 receptor agonists to lose weight,” Shor told Fox News Digital.

“Although the risk of developing macular degeneration while in a GLP-1 drug is low, patients need to be aware of the possible side effects of the eye.”

GLP-1 receptors are present in the retina regardless of the age or state of diabetes, so theoretically, the risk could be applied to younger populations.

More research has been done to better understand why GLP-1 diabetic people have increased eye disease, said Shor.

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“Although the risk of developing macular degeneration while in a GLP-1 medicine is low, patients need to be aware of the possible side effects of the eyes related to this type of medicine,” said Reddy.

If anyone realizes that the blurred or distorted vision, the straight lines that appear wavy or any new blind point, should look for medical attention, according to Muni.

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Early detection of eye disease is crucial, experts agree, as timely treatment can reduce the risk of loss of vision.

The authors of the study said that they expect their findings to make it easier for patients to control early symptoms.