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Author Spotlight: Understanding Retinal Vessel Resilience and Disease Progression
Published on: January 12, 2024
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists are Not Associated with an Increased Risk of Progressing to
Zujaja Tauqeer1,2, Peter Bracha1,3, Peiying Hua4
1Scheie Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Purpose:
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) are used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) by augmenting insulin release and sensitivity. We assessed the overall risk for development of vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and diabetic macular edema (DME), among GLP-1RA users.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort of patients with NPDR newly started on a GLP-1RA from a national insurance claims database was compared to a cohort of patients treated with other oral anti-diabetic agents and matched for age, sex, race, index year, and number of active diabetic medications. Exclusions occurred for < 2 years in the database before diagnosis; prior diagnoses of PDR, DME, vitreous hemorrhage, and/or other retinal vascular diseases; and prior intraocular treatment for VTDR.
Results:
A total of 6093 users of GLP-1RA were matched to 14,122 controls. In the GLP-1RA cohort, 632 (10.1%), 76 (1.2%), and 544 (8.9%) patients progressed to VTDR, PDR, or DME, respectively. This is compared to 1332 (9.5%) VTDR, 165 (1.2%) PDR, or 1148 (8.1%) DME in the control group. Accounting for underlying DM severity with IPTW, no difference in hazard was seen in the GLP-1RA cohort compared to controls for progression to VTDR (HR = 1.02, 95%CI: 0.92-1.14 p = 0.69), DME (HR = 1.06, 95%CI: 0.95-1.1.9, p = 0.31), or PDR (HR = 0.81, 95%CI: 0.58-1.12, p = 0.20).
Conclusion:
We found no difference in the risk for vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy, nor for its component diseases, DME or PDR, with GLP-1RA use compared to other oral anti-hyperglycemic agents in patients with NPDR.
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