Taxane-based chemotherapy associated with elevated risk for ocular adverse events
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Women who use taxane chemotherapy agents may be at a higher risk to develop epiphora, optic neuropathy and cystoid macular edema, according to a study.
“Our study showed that although rare, taxane chemotherapy drugs can increase the risk of ocular adverse events such as cystoid macular edema, optic neuropathy and epiphora. It is important that both oncologists and ophthalmologists are aware of these side effects when counseling patients on the risks of taxane chemotherapy,” study author Mohit Sodhi, BSc, MSc, told Healio/OSN. “Early identification of such events may help in treatment of complications and lead to better outcomes and quality of life.”
Taxane-based chemotherapeutic agents (docetaxel and paclitaxel) have shown significant survival benefits in the treatment of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers. However, ocular adverse events, particularly epiphora, optic neuropathy and cystoid macular edema, have been reported in the literature. Using a large private health claims database from the U.S., Sodhi and colleagues sought to quantify the incidence of these adverse events among women treated with these drugs.
From the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus database, which includes health information on more than 150 million people, a cohort of women who were new users of taxanes was created. A second cohort of women who were new users of tamoxifen was formed for comparison.
Among taxane users, there was a sevenfold higher incidence of epiphora as compared with tamoxifen users (55.6/10,000 person-years vs. 7.9/10,000 person-years), as well as a nearly ninefold higher incidence of optic neuropathy (10.6/10,000 person-years vs. 1.2/10,000 person-years) and twice the incidence of cystoid macular edema (34.8/10,000 person-years vs. 16.8/10,000 person-years).
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