IOP decreased in short-term after cataract surgery but fewer medications needed long-term
Cataract surgery in patients treated with ocular hypotensive medications results in short-term decrease in IOP but long-term decrease in medications, Steven Mansberger, MD, MPH, said at the virtual American Glaucoma Society annual meeting.
Mansberger and colleagues compared 149 eyes of 92 patients in the treatment arm of the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) who underwent cataract surgery with 1,004 eyes of 531 participants in the control arm who had not undergone cataract surgery.
For comparison, in the cataract group, a split date was considered to be the study visit date when cataract surgery was reported; in the control group, a split date was the 15th study visit, which was determined to match the median visit in the cataract group.
“Prior to cataract surgery, the IOP was slightly higher at three visits in the cataract group, but then after surgery, the cataract surgery reduced pressure significantly. But by 12 months, the intraocular pressure was very similar in the cataract and the control groups,” Mansberger said.
However, cataract surgery reduced by half the mean number of ocular hypotensive medications needed after surgery out to 6 years postoperatively, and approximately 20% of participants needed no medications, Mansberger said.
Looking at whether surgery decreased risk for developing glaucoma, Mansberger said, “We saw the hazard ratios ... decreased after cataract surgery. But the number of patients that developed glaucoma in this database was quite small, only about 10% of untreated people and about 6% in the treated group.”
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Mansberger S, et al. Cataract surgery lowers intraocular pressure and medication use in the treatment group in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). Presented at: American Glaucoma Society annual meeting; March 4-7, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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