New diabetes medications may protect against ocular surface disease

In patients with type 2 diabetes, poor blood sugar control, diabetic complications, and certain eye surgeries increase the risk of ocular surface disease (OSD), while newer diabetes medications like SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists may help protect against it, according to a study.

The large retrospective study included data from 161,000 patients with T2DM. After adjusting for age, gender, and duration of diabetes, higher mean HbA1c levels, diabetic complications, and ocular procedures such as trans pars plana vitrectomy and cataract surgery were confirmed as major contributors to OSD. Conversely, newer antihyperglycemic medications, specifically SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists, were shown to offer protective effects, unlike metformin.

Further analysis found that dry eye disease and trans pars plana vitrectomy were specific risk factors for corneal ulcers but not for recurrent corneal erosion. The protective role of diabetes medications, however, was consistent across both OSD subtypes.

The authors recommend prospective randomized trials to validate these findings.

Reference
Sun CC, Pan LY, Chen NN, et al. Risk and Protective Factors for Ocular Surface Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetic Mellitus: A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2025;doi: 10.1089/jop.2024.0175. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40485291.