Bupropion May Benefit Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy

By reducing inflammation in the body, the antidepressant bupropion may consequently improve DR outcomes, as observed in a recent Taiwanese study. Photo: Julie Torbit, OD. Click image to enlarge. The commonly prescribed antidepressant (Wellbutrin) is also frequently found in weight loss medication regimens. Given that the drug has been shown to reduce the concentration of systemic inflammatory cytokines, researchers hypothesized it may improve outcomes in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). To test this theory, they performed a large study comparing rates of DR progression and DR-related complications in patients with type 2 diabetes using bupropion vs. those not taking the medication. Its findings, presented last week at the annual ARVO meeting in Denver, offer evidence of a potential protective role of bupropion in patients with DR. Researchers emulated a target trial using the multi‑institutional Chang Gung Research Database, including medical records from several hospitals in Taiwan. They identified 1,574 adults with type 2 diabetes and preexisting DR between 2001 and 2019, of which 166 received bupropion and 1,408 did not. Primary outcomes were DR‑related complications (diabetic macular edema, retinal detachment, vitreous hemorrhage) and retinal interventions (intravitreal injections, retinal laser, vitrectomy). Secondary outcomes captured other ocular diseases and related procedures.Compared with non‑users, bupropion users had substantially lower incidence of composite DR complications (6.9% vs. 12.8%), yielding an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.58. Additionally, fewer patients taking bupropion required retinal interventions (2.9% vs. 8.5%; aHR 0.42). The protective association was strongest for diabetic macular edema.Beyond DR, bupropion use was correlated with reduced risks of cataract (aHR 0.67) and glaucoma (aHR 0.69) and lower likelihood of cataract surgery (aHR 0.45) and use of intraocular pressure‑lowering medications (aHR 0.67).“Our results showed that patients using bupropion had a lower risk of their eye disease getting worse, including serious complications like swelling in the retina or the need for eye surgery,” the researchers summarized in their ARVO abstract. “They also had lower rates of cataracts and glaucoma and required fewer treatments for these conditions,” they added. Given these findings, it’s possible that “bupropion might help protect the eyes in people with diabetes, highlighting a potential new benefit of this medication beyond its usual uses,” wrote the researchers. However, they noted that further research is needed to validate this observed association.Original abstract ©2026 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.Click here for the source. Huang XC, Kang EY-C, Kang MC-Y, Liu C-H, Hwang Y-S. Association between bupropion and the risk of diabetic retinopathy progression: a multi-institutional retrospective cohort study in Taiwan. ARVO 2026 annual meeting. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.