Systemic fluoroquinolone use not associated with uveitis or retinal detachment risk, reveals study

The primary outcome was the diagnosis of acute uveitis or retinal detachment. This research estimated hazard ratios (HRs) in this study to determine the association between fluoroquinolone prescriptions and these eye conditions. The cohort study included a total of 30,01,256 individuals from the Aurum database and 4,34,754 individuals from the GOLD database.

The key findings of this study were as follows;

For uveitis, the pooled adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for fluoroquinolone use versus cephalosporin use were 0.91 at the first treatment episode and 1.07 over all treatment episodes. This indicated no significant increase in risk.

For retinal detachment, the pooled aHRs were 1.37 at the first treatment episode and 1.18 over all treatment episodes which suggests a potential but not statistically significant increased risk.

In the self-controlled case series, the adjusted rate ratios (aRRs) for uveitis during fluoroquinolone use versus nonuse were slightly increased during the initial 59 days but not significantly different for longer exposure periods. For retinal detachment, the aRRs showed no significant increase at any exposure duration. The findings of this study do not support a significant association between systemic fluoroquinolone use and a substantially increased risk of uveitis or retinal detachment. Overall, this study indicated that fluoroquinolone use does not pose a substantial threat to eye health when compared to other antibiotics.

Reference:

Brown, J. P., Wing, K., Evans, S. J., Leyrat, C., Mansfield, K. E., Smeeth, L., Wong, A. Y. S., Yorston, D., Galwey, N. W., & Douglas, I. J. (2024). Systemic Fluoroquinolone Use and Risk of Uveitis or Retinal Detachment. In JAMA Ophthalmology. American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.1712