A recent study has found that a certain type of blood pressure medicine, known as Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs), may be linked to a higher risk of glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can cause vision loss if not treated early.
The study was led by Dr. Alan Kastner and his team from Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London. They analyzed health data from 427,480 adults in the UK. Out of this group, 33,175 people were taking CCBs.
After adjusting for things like age, lifestyle, and other health conditions, the researchers found that people taking CCBs were more likely to have glaucoma. Interestingly, they didn’t find this same risk with other kinds of blood pressure medications.
What stood out was that people taking CCBs had certain eye changes often seen in early stages of glaucoma—even when the pressure inside their eyes was normal. This is surprising, as high eye pressure is usually the main cause of glaucoma.
Dr. Kastner and his team say more research is needed to understand what’s going on. They want to know if CCBs actually cause glaucoma, or if something else is causing the link. They also hope to find out why these medicines might affect the eyes this way.
This matters because CCBs are commonly used to treat high blood pressure. They work by relaxing blood vessels and lowering blood pressure. But this new research suggests they might have unintended effects on eye health.
Glaucoma affects millions of people around the world. It often develops slowly and doesn’t show symptoms in the early stages. This makes it hard to catch until some vision is already lost—and lost vision can’t be recovered.
That’s why regular eye check-ups are important, especially for people at higher risk. And with this new research, people taking CCBs may want to be extra careful. High blood pressure is also a serious condition, so it’s important not to stop taking medications without speaking to a doctor.
The researchers behind this study say that more research is needed to be sure about the connection between CCBs and glaucoma. In the meantime, if you’re taking CCBs, talk to your doctor about whether you should have your eyes checked more regularly.
It’s also worth noting that some of the researchers have ties to drug companies, but it’s not clear if this had any effect on the study’s results.
If you’re interested in eye health, you may want to read about how to protect your eyes if you have diabetes and the latest treatments for dry eyes. There are also studies on how to prevent glaucoma and how certain eye surgeries might reduce the risk of dementia.
The study was published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that widely used blood pressure drug may increase eye disease risk and common blood pressure drugs linked to cognitive decline.
For more about blood pressure, please read studies about why checking blood pressure while lying down is very important and lowering top blood pressure number to less than 120 mm Hg effectively prevents heart disease.
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