Popular Prescription Weight Loss Drugs Linked to Uncommon Blinding Condition
A new Mass Eye and Ear-led study is the first to discover that people prescribed semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, have a higher risk of developing a form of blindness due to optic nerve disease known as non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
A new study led by investigators from Mass Eye and Ear found that patients prescribed semaglutide (as Ozempic or Wegovy) for diabetes or weight loss had a higher risk of having a potentially blinding eye condition called NAION than similar patients who had not been prescribed these drugs.
Notably, the study found people with diabetes who had been prescribed semaglutide by their physician and then filled the prescription were more than four times more likely to be diagnosed with NAION. Those who were prescribed this drug and were overweight or had obesity were more than seven times more likely to get the diagnosis.
The study, which was led by Joseph Rizzo, MD, director of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Service at Mass Eye and Ear and the Simmons Lessell Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, published July 3rd in JAMA Ophthalmology.
