We are pleased to announce that our PhD student, medical doctor Jędrzej Chrzanowski, is the first author of a paper published in the prestigious journal PLOS Medicine (IF 9.9; 200 MNiSW points) titled:
“Semaglutide-associated risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.” Among the co-authors are also other members of our team: medical doctor Jacek Burzyński, medical doctor Arkadiusz Michalak, and Professor Wojciech Fendler. The publication was completed during Dr. Magdalena Walicka’s research stay in our Department. Congratulations to everyone involved, and we invite you to read the paper: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1005064

The publication presents a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies assessing the potential association between semaglutide use and the risk of developing NAION (nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy) — a rare but potentially vision-threatening optic nerve disorder.

The authors analyzed data from large-scale registries covering hundreds of thousands of patients with type 2 diabetes. The results suggest that semaglutide use may be associated with an increased relative risk of NAION, although the absolute risk of this complication remains very low — approximately 1 additional case per 7,000 patients treated per year.

The study also summarizes current data from adverse event reporting databases, regulatory communications from the EMA and WHO, and previous meta-analyses on the safety of GLP-1 receptor agonists.

The publication was made possible thanks to funding from the National Science Centre (PRELUDIUM BIS 4 grant, 2022/47/O/NZ5/00683), ISPAD–Breakthrough T1D, the Foundation for Polish Science (START program), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (“Perły Nauki 1” grant, PN/01/0025/2022), CRIDO (“Korzenie Przyszłości” program), and institutional support from the Medical University of Łódź (BRaIn P1 grant).