Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Ophthalmology for July 2007. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.
Half of Low Birth-Weight Infants May Have Vision Problems
MONDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- Half of children who weigh less than 1,701 grams at birth may go on to experience ophthalmologic problems at the age of 10 to 13 years, and such visual problems are associated with worse cognitive function, according to a study in the July issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition.
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Retinal Exam May Help Diagnose Dementia
THURSDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Retinopathy is associated with cognitive dysfunction in older patients with hypertension, researchers report in the July issue of Stroke. The finding suggests that retinal photography may help differentiate between Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia in certain patients.
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Gene Variant Strongly Linked to Macular Degeneration
THURSDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- A single-nucleotide polymorphism in the C3 complement gene is strongly linked to an increase in the risk of age-related macular degeneration, according to research published online July 18 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Wrinkle Therapy Injections Can Cause Adverse Reactions
WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Improperly administered polylactic acid injections to treat periorbital wrinkles may result in the formation of unsightly, persistent nodules around the eyes, according to a report published in the June issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.
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Apraclonidine Eye Drops Linked to Adverse Effects in Infants
WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Apraclonidine, a selective alpha-2 agonist used in eye drops as a diagnostic test for Horner syndrome in infants, may cause episodes of severe lethargy that persist for up to 10 hours and require hospitalization and oxygen administration, according to a report in the June issue of the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
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FDA Approves LASIK to Correct Both Myopia and Presbyopia
THURSDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a LASIK device on Thursday that will allow the correction of myopia in one of a patient's eyes and undercorrection of myopia in the other. After treatment with the CustomVue Monovision LASIK, the patient can use one eye for distance vision and the other for near objects, which may reduce the need for reading glasses in patients over 40.
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Visual Impairment Often Neglected in Nursing Home
THURSDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of nursing home residents may have serious visual impairments and as many as two-thirds of them aren't receiving eye examinations, according to study findings published in the July issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
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Visual Impairment Associated with Higher Mortality Risk
WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Patients aged 49 to 74 with age-related macular degeneration and patients who are 49 and older with cataracts have a greater risk of mortality than those without the ophthalmic conditions, according to a report in the July issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
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Retinal Arteriolar Narrowing Linked to Cardiac Remodeling
TUESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Narrow retinal arteriolar caliber is an independent risk factor for left ventricular remodeling suggesting that microvascular disease may contribute to cardiac remodeling, according to a report in the July 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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