Question about side effects

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Nopainnopain

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I have heard that 1 out of 7000 people who used GLP had optical issues and even got blind. This is a disea is called NAION . Before it was 1 out of 10000, how realistic are serious side effects on GLP?

It says:

During five years of observation of all persons with T2D in Denmark, use of once-weekly semaglutide independently more than doubled the risk of NAION. Given the irreversible nature of NAION, it is important to acknowledge this risk, and upcoming studies should aim to identify high-risk subgroups.



Source:
 
Nopainnopain said:


I have heard that 1 out of 7000 people who used GLP (I think it was Reta) was blind after the intake of approximately 80 weeks. Before it was 1 out of 10000, how realistic are serious side effects on GLP?

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With the current statistic of 11% us alone that would represent over 5,000 blinded.

I imagine we would hear more about it.

I would also like to see where this info came from
 
ladyj779 said:


Can you post the study you read this in?

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it should be written in the official Instruction leaflet, which you also get with Ozempic. It could cause blindness but sadly with a higher rate than expected
 
Nopainnopain said:


it should be written in the official Instruction leaflet, which you also get with Ozempic. It could cause blindness but sadly with a higher rate than expected

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Can you post a link to the study where you read 1 in 7000 people, who might be on reta, went blind?
 
About 18 months ago, the HAS (High Authority for Health, FR) issued an alert to doctors, particularly ophthalmologists, urging them to monitor their patients taking aGLP-1 agonists (Lira, Dula, and Sema at the time). Certain serious vascular problems could develop in the retina.

I mentioned this to my ophthalmologist, who wasn’t yet aware of it. Between the time I read the alert and my appointment, the alert page had been taken down, but I was able to show him the Google Cache.

I haven’t seen any further alerts since then.
 
If I understand this: it seems like the numbers are smaller on sema?

At baseline, median age and hemoglobin A1c were 65 years and 50 mmol/mol, and 54·5% were male. During 1,915,120 person-years of observation, 218 persons developed NAION.

So 10 out of 100000 were effected

normally 11 out of 100000 are diagnosed

Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is another ocular disease that often presents with a sudden onset of painless monocular visual loss with altitudinal visual field defects. While the exact pathogenesis is unknown, it is likely caused by impaired perfusion of the optic nerve head. With an incidence of 11 per 100,000 person-years [3], it is the most common cause of optic neuropathy
 
NIAON is a thing, it's not well understood from what I remember reading. My impression was the precipitous drop in blood sugar for diabetic folk was a possible correlation.
 
eidos said:


About 18 months ago, the HAS (High Authority for Health, FR) issued an alert to doctors, particularly ophthalmologists, urging them to monitor their patients taking aGLP-1 agonists (Lira, Dula, and Sema at the time). Certain serious vascular problems could develop in the retina.

I mentioned this to my ophthalmologist, who wasn’t yet aware of it. Between the time I read the alert and my appointment, the alert page had been taken down, but I was able to show him the Google Cache.

I haven’t seen any further alerts since then.

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This meta-analysis indicates a significant association between semaglutide use and NAION in patients with T2DM compared to non-GLP-1RAs, with this association remaining significant even after 5-years of semaglutide use.

This is the conclusion of a meta analysis and a systematic review from 27 May 2026
 
Nopainnopain said:


https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40942-024-00620-x

There you go

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Thank you.

I searched for articles citing the first study, and we have more recent data (July 2025).

(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2836771)

The issue concerns people with long-standing type 2 diabetes. The authors note that since this information isn’t available for all patients, it limits the study.

They excluded patients taking metformin because it would have biased the proportion of cases with vascular problems, since metformin protects against these problems.
 
Nopainnopain said:


This meta-analysis indicates a significant association between semaglutide use and NAION in patients with T2DM compared to non-GLP-1RAs, with this association remaining significant even after 5-years of semaglutide use.

This is the conclusion of a meta analysis and a systematic review from 27 May 2026

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Published in May, but it states:

A literature search was made up to September 2025

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The reference I cited earlier is not analyzed there.

There is no reason yet to conclude that the development of this problem is caused by aGLP-1s alone rather than by the discontinuation or reduction of other medications.

For people with diabetes, there's an annual visit to the ophthalmologist. All it takes is to mention it to the doctor, as I did, to ensure proper monitoring.
 
Skidude said:


With the current statistic of 11% us alone that would represent over 5,000 blinded.

I imagine we would hear more about it.

I would also like to see where this info came from

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The risk of is about .5/100,000 across all ages and goes up to somewhere between 2-10/100,000 of people over 50. According to reports I saw around a year ago, the thinking was GLPs roughly doubled the risk. So large increase in relative risk but still very low absolute risk. A quick look at the study seems like it may be a little higher with type 2 diabetes, but still a very low absolute risk.
 
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