Evidence mapPaperPMID 40348919Full record

ArticleEye (London, England)2025

Lower incidence of diabetic retinopathy and worsening events after phentermine assisted weight loss across a large U.S. cohort.

Madhukar Kumar, Nadia J Abbass, Matthew W Russell, Nikhil Das, Rishi P Singh, Katherine E Talcott

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Article in Eye (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Madhukar KumarCase Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Nadia J AbbassCase Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Matthew W RussellCenter for Ophthalmic Bioinformatics, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Nikhil DasCenter for Ophthalmic Bioinformatics, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Rishi P SinghCenter for Ophthalmic Bioinformatics, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Katherine E TalcottCenter for Ophthalmic Bioinformatics, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. Talcotk@ccf.org.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0458-4181

Funding

Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Northern Ohio, Catalyzing Linkages for Everyone's Health (CLE Health)UM1TR004528 · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2025 to 2025
$7.9M
NEI Center Core Grant for Vision ResearchP30EY025585 · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · 2025 to 2025
$644k
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine | Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University (Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland) UL1TR002548NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002548NCATS NIH HHS UM1 TR004528NEI NIH HHS P30 EY025585Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) P30EY025585(BA-A)
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectivesMedication assisted weight loss for treatment of obesity has rapidly increased. The effect of this treatment with phentermine on diabetic retinopathy (DR) is underexplored. SUBJECTS/

methodsRetrospective cohort study. The U.S. Collaborative Network of the TriNetX platform was queried for patients diagnosed with overweight and obesity and prescription of phentermine. Patients were propensity score matched across baseline demographics and systemic risk factors at the time of medication initiation and compared to those diagnosed with overweight and obesity without usage of weight loss medications, identifying 26,611 patients per cohort after propensity score matching. Risk ratios (RR) of incident DR and related diagnoses or procedural codes found after the medication initiation date for pertinent disease worsening and treatment metrics were assessed.

resultsPhentermine usage was found to be associated with reduced future risk of a new diagnosis of DR with macular oedema (RR 0.462; (95% CI 0.372-0.573), P < 0.001), mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) (RR 0.621 (0.508, 0.760), P < 0.001), moderate NPDR (RR 0.567 (0.402, 0.799), P < 0.001), severe NPDR (RR 0.477 (0.233, 0.981), P = 0.003), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (RR 0.451 (0.323, 0.629), P < 0.001), vitreous haemorrhage (RR 0.347 (0.200, 0.602), P < 0.001), need for intravitreal anti-VEGF injection (RR: 0.530 (0.354, 0.793), P < 0.001).

conclusionThe present analysis suggests that phentermine usage is associated with a decreased risk of diabetic macular oedema, NPDR, PDR, and worsening events.

Indexed as

Appetite DepressantsDiabetic RetinopathyObesityPhentermineWeight LossAdultAgedFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedPropensity ScoreRetrospective StudiesRisk FactorsUnited StatesAppetite DepressantsPhentermine

Identifiers

PMID40348919
PMCPMC12274358

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.