According to a study by Harvard Medical School, receiving treatment with the second-line diabetes drug ‘ozempic’ or the obesity treatment drug ‘wegovy’ increases the risk of diabetic patients suddenly losing their eyesight due to a rare eye disease. A research team at Harvard Medical School in the United States revealed in an international journal, the ‘American Medical Association Ophthalmology,’ that diabetic patients who are administered the drug containing the ingredient semaglutide are about 4 times more likely to develop ‘non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.’
Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy is a condition where the artery supplying blood to the optic nerve in the eye becomes blocked. If blood is not supplied to the optic nerve, eyesight loss occurs. The research team analyzed data from 10,827 patients from 2017 to 2023, with 710 adult diabetic patients included in the study, of which 194 were prescribed semaglutide. Among obese patients, 361 were prescribed semaglutide. According to the analysis, diabetic patients taking semaglutide had a rare eye disease rate of 8.9%, while those taking other medications had only 1.8%. In obese patients, the occurrence of the rare eye disease was about 7 times higher in those prescribed semaglutide compared to those prescribed other medications.
[Reporter Go Jaewon]