Drops and falls

Glaucoma in Adults-Screening, Diagnosis, and Management: A Review

IMPORTANCE

Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Many patients with glaucoma are asymptomatic early in the disease course. Primary care clinicians should know which patients to refer to an eye care professional for a complete eye examination to check for signs of glaucoma and to determine what systemic conditions or medications can increase a patient's risk of glaucoma. Open-angle and narrow-angle forms of glaucoma are reviewed, including a description of the pathophysiology, risk factors, screening, disease monitoring, and treatment options.

OBSERVATIONS

Glaucoma is a chronic progressive optic neuropathy, characterized by damage to the optic nerve and retinal nerve fiber layer, that can lead to permanent loss of peripheral or central vision. Intraocular pressure is the only known modifiable risk factor. Other important risk factors include older age, nonwhite race, and a family history of glaucoma. Several systemic medical conditions and medications including corticosteroids, anticholinergics, certain antidepressants, and topiramate may predispose patients to glaucoma. There are 2 broad categories of glaucoma, open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma. Diagnostic testing to assess for glaucoma and to monitor for disease progression includes measurement of intraocular pressure, perimetry, and optical coherence tomography. Treatment of glaucoma involves lowering intraocular pressure. This can be achieved with various classes of glaucoma medications as well as laser and incisional surgical procedures.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Vision loss from glaucoma can be minimized by recognizing systemic conditions and medications that increase a patient's risk of glaucoma and referring high-risk patients for a complete ophthalmologic examination. Clinicians should ensure that patients remain adherent with taking glaucoma medications and should monitor for adverse events from medical or surgical interventions used to treat glaucoma.

Analysis of the fall-related risk of pharmacotherapy in Czech hospitals: A case control study

RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES

Falls are among the major problems occurring in hospital setting, when drugs are viewed as important modifiable risk factor of falling. The aim was to analyse the effect of pharmacotherapy on the risk of falls in hospitalized patients.

METHODS

A multicentre prospective case-control study was conducted in 2017 retrieving data from four hospitals in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. An online database was constructed to collect patient and fall-related data. Each fall that occurred during hospitalization was assigned to appropriate controls (no fall during hospitalization) based on gender, age, length of hospitalization, and the number of drugs. Univariate and multivariate correlations were performed with a significance level of P < .05.

RESULTS

A total of 222 fall cases (107 males; median age, 81 y) and 1076 controls (516 males; median age, 80 y) were included. According to the first ATC level classification, drugs from groups S, N, and P were significantly associated with fall-related risk compared with controls (P < .05); further analysis of ATC levels showed that only psycholeptics (N05), antipsychotics (N05A), and tiapride were significantly associated with falls. Regression analysis revealed use of psycholeptics N05 (OR = 2.06; 95% CI, 1.56-2.76), or ophthalmologicals S01 (OR = 2.72; 95% CI, 1.37-5.41), as factors with the highest fall-related risk.

CONCLUSIONS

Apart from the commonly considered fall-risk increasing drugs, other groups, such as ophthalmologicals, should also be considered; however, regarding clinical practice, it is difficult to evaluate the effects of individual drugs in the context of other risk factors of falls, due to the multifactorial nature of falls.