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Study: Long-term oral contraceptive users twice as likely to have glaucoma
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Women who took oral contraceptives for 3 years or more were twice as likely to have glaucoma, according to a press release from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
A study comprised 3,406 women aged 40 years or older who underwent eye examinations and completed the vision and reproductive health questionnaire as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Those who used any type of oral contraceptives for 3 years or more were at 2.05 times greater risk of developing glaucoma.
The causative effect between oral contraceptives and the development of glaucoma was not addressed in the study. However, it suggested that long-term use of oral contraceptives may be a potential risk factor for glaucoma and may be classified as part of the risk profile for a patient in conjunction with other existing risk factors such as African-American ethnicity, family history of glaucoma, history of increased IOP or existing visual field defects, according to the release.
“At this point, women who have taken oral contraceptives for 3 or more years should be screened for glaucoma and followed closely by an ophthalmologist, especially if they have any other existing risk factors,” Shan Lin, MD, lead researcher and professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco, said in the release.