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Ocular toxicity associated with systemic drug therapy

R S Moorthy1, S Valluri

  • 1Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.

Current Opinion in Ophthalmology
|February 8, 2000
PubMed

Insights

Systemic drugs can cause eye side effects. A review found high causality for ocular toxicity with several common drugs, excluding vigabatrin and statins.

Area of Science:

  • Ophthalmology
  • Pharmacology
  • Toxicology

Background:

  • The incidence of systemic drug-induced ocular side effects is rising due to new drug development.
  • Accurate documentation and exclusion of alternative causes are crucial for establishing causality in drug-induced ocular toxicity.
  • Systemic medications are increasingly associated with adverse ocular events.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the causality of ocular toxicity for commonly used and newly introduced systemic drugs.
  • To review recent reports implicating systemic drugs in ocular toxicity.
  • To summarize detection, prevention, and treatment strategies for drug-induced ocular reactions.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of recent literature on ocular toxicity associated with systemic drugs.
  • Application of toxicologic criteria to establish causality for drug-induced ocular side effects.
  • Evaluation of ocular toxicity reports for specific systemic agents including cidofovir, sildenafil, vigabatrin, tamoxifen, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, amiodarone, and statins.

Main Results:

  • High probability of causality for ocular toxicity was established for cidofovir, sildenafil, tamoxifen, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, and amiodarone.
  • Vigabatrin and lovastatin/simvastatin showed a lower probability of causality for ocular toxicity based on the evaluated criteria.
  • The review identified specific ocular toxicities linked to each evaluated drug.

Conclusions:

  • Several commonly prescribed systemic drugs carry a high risk of causing ocular toxicity.
  • Vigabatrin and statins (lovastatin/simvastatin) were less likely to be causative agents for ocular toxicity in this review.
  • Understanding these risks is vital for clinicians to manage and prevent adverse ocular events in patients on systemic medications.

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