Systemic drugs closely associated with cataract development

The key findings of this study were:

1. The present analysis comprised a total of 14,931. 9.6% of cataracts were surgically corrected on a weighted basis (n=2010).

2. After further adjusting for relevant comorbidities, we found 20 medication categories that showed a significant connection with surgically treated cataract, of which eight correlations remained statistically significant.

3. The tricyclic antidepressants, insulin, and group III antiarrhythmic medicines were the three drug groups with the greatest OR values.

4. In women, the usage of sex hormone combinations decreased the likelihood of cataract surgery. All eight medication categories showed dose-response associations.

This study found a strong correlation between the use of minerals and electrolytes, insulin, tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs, calcium channel blockers, loop diuretics, and class III antiarrhythmics, as well as insulin usage and cataract. Combinations of sex hormones have also been found to have a protective effect. These discoveries may aid in the future development of more efficient cataract preventive and treatment strategies by offering important new insights into the biological processes behind the onset and development of cataract. In order to corroborate our findings, more research is required because of the exploratory character of our investigation.

Reference:

Deng, R., Zhu, Z., Han, X., Shang, X., He, M., Xu, G., Chen, Z., & Fan, H. (2023). Evaluation of Systemic Medications Associated with Surgically Treated Cataract among US Adults. In American Journal of Ophthalmology. Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2023.01.005