Bupropion Use May Be Linked With Lower Glaucoma Risk
By Lorraine L. Janeczko
NEW YORK - People who take bupropion for over one year may lower their likelihood of developing glaucoma, a new study suggests.
"Data from a population-based survey of the United States suggests that bupropion use may be associated with a reduced risk of glaucoma," senior author Dr. Shan Lin, director of the Glaucoma Service at the University of California, San Francisco, told Reuters Health by email.
"Our findings help confirm a recent study (https://bit.ly/29xFLqo), using a database of insurance patients, that bupropion may be protective against glaucoma development. Also, there is a biological basis for the potential protective effects of bupropion in glaucoma," he said.
Dr. Lin and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study of publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 through 2008. The data set included 6,760 individuals who were 40 years old or older and who answered a question about their glaucoma status.
When asked about their use of prescription medications, those stating that they took bupropion were divided into groups based on the duration of their usage. Overall, 453 participants self-reported a diagnosis of glaucoma, and 108 self-reported bupropion use.
Participants who stated that they used bupropion for over one year had lower odds of stating that they had glaucoma compared with those who did not take the drug or who took it for a shorter period (adjusted odds ratio, 0.1, p=0.010).
Dr. Allen Beck, professor of ophthalmology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters Health by email, "Bupropion may be a potential medication for glaucoma treatment and/or it may open up the evaluation of a new class of medication to treat glaucoma."
Drs. Lin and Beck advised caution, though.
While the strength of the study is its data obtained from a large cross-sectional survey of the U.S. population and administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Lin said, its weakness is its cross-sectional design, which provides only association.
"It was important to do this study to confirm the previous findings," said Dr. Beck, who was not involved in Dr. Lin's study.
Dr. Beck added, "This study points to an association but it is still preliminary and does not prove cause and effect. That must be confirmed by further research, ideally by a randomized medication trial. The mechanism of effect also requires further study."
"These results are just the beginning," Dr. Lin said. "If substantiated by large prospective randomized trials, these findings may lead to the use of bupropion for certain cases of glaucoma."
The authors reported no funding or disclosures.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/29BzgBJ
Br J Ophthalmol 2016.
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