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Published on: January 12, 2024
GLP-1 receptor agonists and age-related macular degeneration risk in diabetes or non-diabetic obesity: A
Ssu-Yu Pan1, Chien-Hsiang Weng2, Yi-Jing Sheen3
1School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Ophthalmology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Objective:
We conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the association between glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and age-related macular degeneration.
Methods:
This is a retrospective cohort study including two cohorts of adults aged ≥50 years free of macular degeneration at baseline, including 1) the diabetes cohort comparing age-related macular degeneration risk between GLP-1RAs and metformin users, and 2) the obesity cohort, consisting of individuals with a body mass index ≥30 kg/m2 without type 2 diabetes, comparing the risk of age-related macular degeneration between GLP-1RAs and other weight-loss medications. A 1:1 propensity score matching was performed to balance covariates. Cox proportional hazards models and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to assess the risk of age-related macular degeneration across 5 years of follow-up.
Results:
A total of 147,800 participants with diabetes and 49,518 participants with obesity were included. In the diabetes cohort, GLP-1RAs were associated with lower total age-related macular degeneration (hazard ratio [HR], 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75-0.91) and dry age-related macular degeneration (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.73-0.98) risks compared to metformin. In the obesity cohort, GLP-1RAs were associated with a lower risk of total age-related macular degeneration (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98) and dry age-related macular degeneration (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.94) compared to other weight-loss medications.
Conclusions:
GLP-1RAs were associated with a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration, particularly the dry form, compared with metformin or other weight-loss medications.
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