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Benign essential blepharospasm may not be risk factor for glaucoma
Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg. 2010;26(6):434-437.
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Patients with benign essential blepharospasm do not have an increased risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, closed-angle glaucoma or other glaucoma, according to a study.
Researchers evaluated Medicare claim files from 1994 to 2000, identifying 1,350 patients with benign essential blepharospasm. A control group comprised an equal number of people without benign essential blepharospasm. In both groups, 29% of patients were men, 94% were white, and the mean age was 76 years.
After 2,190 days of follow-up, the patients with benign essential blepharospasm did not develop primary open-angle glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.159), closed-angle glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.477) or other glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.306) more often than did the control population.
When researchers adjusted for age, gender, race, number of visits to the ophthalmologist and other eye disease, benign essential blepharospasm still did not affect a patient's risk for primary open-angle glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.152), closed-angle glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.448) or other glaucoma (hazard ratio: 1.296).
"This study suggests that the cumulative effects of frequent, long-term, intermittent, and ultra-short-term IOP elevations from [benign essential blepharospasm] do not result in glaucomatous damage," the authors said.
The authors considered study design, discrepancies in diagnostic and reporting criteria, patient age, and selection bias to be limitations of the study.