Weight loss jabs CAN make you go blind by causing an ‘eye stroke’, study of 37million finds
WEIGHT loss jabs could raise the risk of a “potentially blinding condition” known as an “eye stroke”, researchers have warned.
A study of 37 million adults taking a variety of weight loss medications found that people on semaglutide – the blockbuster ingredient behind Wegovy and diabetes jab Ozempic – were at greater risk of the condition.
Aside from mimicking hormones released by the body when you’re full to diminish hunger pangs, so-called “miracle” weight loss jabs can also produce a number of side effects.
Users may suffer gut issues, including sickness, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation and acid reflux.
A growing number of studies suggest that weight loss drugs can affect the eyes too, increasing the risk of a rare condition.
Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) – also known as a “eye stroke” – typically causes sudden vision loss in one eye.
It occurs from a lack of sufficient blood flow to the optic nerve, depriving it of oxygen and damaging to all or part of the nerve.
There are no current treatments for NAION and vision often does not improve.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University observed “a small increase in the relative incidence of NAION from exposure to semaglutide compared with non-exposure”.
They also found that people taking semaglutide were more likely to suffer the condition compared to users of other weight loss jabs, such as empagliflozin and sitagliptin
But researchers noted that the risk of NAION was still “low” and “smaller than previously reported”.
Writing in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, they stressed that further research into the link is needed, urging prescribers to weigh the small risk of sight loss against the other health benefits of semaglutide.
It comes after a separate study published to the to JAMA Ophthalmology detailed the experiences of nine patients – aged between 37 and 77 – who experienced eye complications after taking semaglutide or tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro.
Some patients reported terrifying changes to their vision mere days or weeks after taking the jabs.
One woman with type 2 diabetes woke up with “painful vision loss in the left eye” just a day after injecting her first dose of semaglutide.
Another woman reported “shadows” clouding the vision in her right eye two or three days after using the drug – she’d started taking it three months prior.
But researchers noted that the exact cause of patients’ vision loss remains unclear, as they couldn’t determine a cause-and-effect relationship between the drugs and subsequent eye complications.
Instead, they suggested that semaglutide and tirzepatide rapidly lower blood sugar levels, possibly damaging blood vessels in the eyes and leading to vision loss.
Johns Hopkins researchers behind followed 37 million adults with type 2 diabetes, 166,932 of whom were taking type 2 diabetes drugs, including semaglutide.
“We identified a small increased risk of NAION among patients with [type 2 diabetes] who were exposed to semaglutide, smaller than that previously reported,” they wrote
What is non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION)?
NAION is caused by a loss of blood flow to the optic nerve – the cable that connects the eye to the brain.
It usually results in sudden vision loss in one eye, without any pain, which patients will usually notice when waking up in the morning.
The visual loss typically remains fairly stable, without getting markedly better or worse once it has occurred.
Medics aren’t sure what exactly caused reduced blood flow to the optic nerve – but the condition is more common in people with diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnoea.
Smoking may also raise the risk of NAION.
Most patients with NAION have an anatomical variation of the optic nerve, making its contents very tight and crowded.
This anatomy probably contributes to the impaired circulation that causes NAION.
NAION has previously been linked to erectile dysfunction drugs and taking medications to treat high blood pressure before bedtime.
Unfortunately, there are no treatments for NAION that are proven to be effective.
Once NAION has occurred in one eye, it is very rare for it to occur again in the same eye. But there is about a 30 per cent chance that it can occur in the other eye over one’s lifetime.
To try to reduce the risk that NAION occurs in the other eye, a doctor might suggest regular exercise, a healthy diet, and other measures to treat the risk factors of diabetes, high blood pressure, and sleep apnoea.
Source: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
“It is unclear if the increased risk of NAION is specific to semaglutide, or also true of other glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA” – as drugs that mimic the body’s fullness hormones are referred to.
“There are no known mechanistic links between GLP-1RA and NAION,” researchers went on.
They pointed out that previous research has shown that weight loss drugs may actually reduce the risk of developing a condition where blood flow to the heart or limbs is reduced – which happens in strokes.
Study authors said it was possible that GLP-1RAs may lower blood pressure, which could increase NAION risk.
They concluded: “This was, to our knowledge, the largest study to investigate the association of NAION with semaglutide and other GLP-1RA and non–GLP-1RA type 2 diabetes medications.
“Our sample size allowed us to identify many more NAION cases than prior studies.”
Studies have previously linked diabetes and weight loss jabs to eye conditions that can lead to permanent vision loss.
Harvard Medical School researchers found that diabetes patients prescribed semaglutide were more than four times more likely to be diagnosed with NAION.
Overweight or obese people taking the drugs were also more than seven times as likely to develop the condition as those on other weight loss medicines.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk – which manufactures Ozempic and Wegovy – previously told The Sun: “Patient safety is a top priority for Novo Nordisk, and we take all reports about adverse events from use of our medicines very seriously.
“Any decision to start treatment with prescription-only medicines should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional who should do a benefit-risk evaluation for the patient in question, weighing up the benefits of treatment with the potential risks.
“Eye conditions are well-known comorbidities for people living with diabetes.
“The study concludes that there was not a demonstrated causal relationship between semaglutide and the eye conditions that the patients experienced.
“At this time, Novo Nordisk is of the opinion that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains unchanged.”