Diabetes drug may have role in prevention of glaucoma, finds Study

USA: The use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist significantly lowers hazard reduction for a new diagnosis of glaucoma.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, support the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists in glaucoma prevention.

glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists regulate blood sugar levels and are commonly used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recent studies have shown treatment with the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist NLY01 to be associated with decreased retinal neuroinflammation and glial activation to rescue retinal ganglion cells in a mouse model of glaucoma. 

Against the above background, Brian L VanderBeek, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and colleagues aimed to examine whether GLP-1R agonist exposure impacts glaucoma risk using an insurance claims database.

A retrospective cohort of patients who initiated a new GLP-1R agonist was 1:3 age, gender, race, classes of active diabetes medications, and year of index date matched to patients who initiated a different class of oral diabetic medication. To test the association between GLP-1R agonist exposure and a new diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma, glaucoma suspect, or low-tension glaucoma, inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used within a multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression model.