Experts who have found a link between slimming jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy and an eye condition that can cause blindness have described their early findings as ‘significant’, with more research needed.
A team from Harvard University started looking into the possible link after three people taking semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy – were diagnosed with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) within a week.
A rare condition described as ‘eye stroke’, NAION occurs when there is a blockage in the vessels supplying blood to the optic nerves, causing damage to all or part of the nerve that can cause sudden vision loss in one eye.
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There are no treatments for the condition and vision often does not get better.
The Harvard University researchers found that people with diabetes taking semaglutide were four times more likely to be diagnosed NAION, while those who are overweight or have obesity while taking semaglutide were seven times more likely to develop the condition.
While they described their findings as “tentative” and needing to be tested further, the researchers encouraged doctors to discuss this potential side effect with their patients, particularly if patients already have an existing eye condition.
Ophthalmology expert Professor Joseph Rizzo, from Harvard Medical School, said: “The use of these drugs has exploded throughout industrialised countries and they have provided very significant benefits in many ways.
“But future discussions between a patient and their physician should include NAION as a potential risk.
“It is important to appreciate, however, that the increased risk relates to a disorder that is relatively uncommon.”
He went on to say: “Our findings should be viewed as being significant but tentative, as future studies are needed to examine these questions in a much larger and more diverse population.
“This is information we did not have before and it should be included in discussions between patients and their doctors, especially if patients have other known optic nerve problems like glaucoma or if there is pre-existing significant visual loss from other causes.”
The researchers looked at data from more than 16,000 patients from Massachusettes Eye and Ear Harvard teaching hospital.
Covering a six-year period of treatment, the study included 710 patients with type 2 diabetes, with 194 prescribed semaglutide. A further 979 patients were overweight or obese, with 361 prescribed semaglutide.
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In people with type 2 diabetes, there were 17 cases of NAION in patients taking semaglutide, compared to six on other diabetes drugs.
During a three-year follow-up, 8.9% of those taking semaglutide were diagnosed with NAION in comparison to 1.8% on other diabetes drugs.
There were 20 NAION cases among those who were overweight or obese and prescribed semaglutide, compared to three on other drugs.
A key finding was that around 6.7% of those on semaglutide had NAION compared to 0.8% on other drugs.
It comes after health experts warned against using the drugs just to shed a few pounds or to get ‘beach-body ready’.
