Glaucoma Medications May Lower Death Rate, Study Reveals

More than 21,000 Americans participated in a four-year study examining the relationship between glaucoma medications and lower death rates. The study, published in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology, states that all glaucoma medications, regardless of type, appear to increase the survival rate of patients with glaucoma, a progressive eye disease that may lead to vision loss.

Study leader Dr. Joshua Stein said that researchers are unsure why glaucoma medications appear to lower death rates, but explained that certain glaucoma medications can lower blood pressure, a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, which may benefit patients with irregular heart rates. Dr. Stein also noted that additional glaucoma drugs may be useful for patients with congestive heart failure.

“Our main finding were that people who filled at least one 30-day prescription for a medication had a 74 percent reduced hazard of death as compared to those who received no medications,” said Dr. Stein. “Then we looked at different types of medications, different combinations of drugs and numbers of medications and we showed that for the various classes of medications this protective effect seemed to hold true.”

Dr. Stein said additional trials are needed to fully understand the results of the four-year study, as the findings could have important clinical implications.

“If we know that certain classes of medication that we're prescribing may be increasing or decreasing one's risk of death then it may influence which types of medications we would want to describe to patients,” said Dr. Stein.

According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, more than 4 million Americans have glaucoma, though only half know they have the condition. Glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness in the world. Approximately 120,000 Americans are blind due to the disease.

Additional information about drugs and drug side effects may be found on Drugwatch.com.