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New Evidence to Never Trust Big Pharma
- Thread starter Loofydralb
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Viagra can cause blindness too but it's still on the market 3 decades later.
everydayhealth.com
ByLisa RapaportFact Checked Updated on April 11, 2022
3–4 minutes
Older men who regularly use erectile dysfunction drugs may be more likely to develop serious side effects that can lead to vision loss and blindness, a new study suggests.
Some isolated case reports and small studies have previously linked erectile dysfunction drugs to serious vision-related side effects. These include retinal detachment, when the retina lifts away from the back of the eye; retinal vascular occlusion, when clots block veins in the eye; and ischemic optic neuropathy, when blood stops flowing to the optic nerve. These conditions can come on suddenly, and lead to permanent vision loss if they aren’t treated quickly.
For the new study, researchers wanted to assess the risks seen in these smaller studies by examining a much larger group of men over an average follow-up period of about four years. They analyzed health insurance claims data on more than 213,000 men who received new prescriptions for one of four erectile dysfunction drugs in a family of medicines known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is): sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra, Staxyn), and avanafil (Stendra). The analysis compared eye-related side effects for men who used these drugs with men who did not.
Overall, men who regularly used erectile dysfunction drugs were 85 percent more likely to develop serious vision-related side effects than men who didn’t take these medicines, researchers report in JAMA Ophthalmology.
When researchers looked at each type of ocular side effect in isolation, they found regular erectile dysfunction drug use associated with a 2.8 times greater risk of serious retinal detachment, a doubled risk of ischemic optic neuropathy, and a 44 percent increased risk of retinal vascular occlusion.
“The findings suggest individuals who regularly use PDE5Is need to be cognizant of ocular adverse events associated with these drugs and alert their physicians if they experience any visual deficits,” the researchers concluded.
Researchers defined regular erectile dysfunction drug use as filling at least one prescription every three months. One limitation of the study is that this only told researchers how often men picked up bottles of pills, not how often men actually used the pills.
The study also wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how erectile dysfunction drugs might directly cause eye-related side effects.
There are, however, some plausible explanations for why the drugs might cause these side effects, Brian VanderBeek, MD, MPH, and Maureen Maguire, PhD, of the department of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.
For example, ischemic optic neuropathy can develop in people who have unusually low blood pressure at night, the editorial authors write. Erectile dysfunction drugs are often used at night, and are known to lower blood pressure, they note.
In addition, erectile dysfunction drugs can cause thickening of tissue in the middle layer of the wall of the eye, a condition that is associated with retinal detachment, the editorial authors point out. The possible mechanisms for these drugs to cause retinal vascular occlusion aren’t as clear, they write, but it’s possible these medicines might have a negative effect on blood flow within the eyes.
everydayhealth.com
Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Linked to Vision Loss
ByLisa RapaportFact Checked Updated on April 11, 2022
3–4 minutes
Older men who regularly use erectile dysfunction drugs may be more likely to develop serious side effects that can lead to vision loss and blindness, a new study suggests.
Some isolated case reports and small studies have previously linked erectile dysfunction drugs to serious vision-related side effects. These include retinal detachment, when the retina lifts away from the back of the eye; retinal vascular occlusion, when clots block veins in the eye; and ischemic optic neuropathy, when blood stops flowing to the optic nerve. These conditions can come on suddenly, and lead to permanent vision loss if they aren’t treated quickly.
For the new study, researchers wanted to assess the risks seen in these smaller studies by examining a much larger group of men over an average follow-up period of about four years. They analyzed health insurance claims data on more than 213,000 men who received new prescriptions for one of four erectile dysfunction drugs in a family of medicines known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is): sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra, Staxyn), and avanafil (Stendra). The analysis compared eye-related side effects for men who used these drugs with men who did not.
Overall, men who regularly used erectile dysfunction drugs were 85 percent more likely to develop serious vision-related side effects than men who didn’t take these medicines, researchers report in JAMA Ophthalmology.
When researchers looked at each type of ocular side effect in isolation, they found regular erectile dysfunction drug use associated with a 2.8 times greater risk of serious retinal detachment, a doubled risk of ischemic optic neuropathy, and a 44 percent increased risk of retinal vascular occlusion.
“The findings suggest individuals who regularly use PDE5Is need to be cognizant of ocular adverse events associated with these drugs and alert their physicians if they experience any visual deficits,” the researchers concluded.
Researchers defined regular erectile dysfunction drug use as filling at least one prescription every three months. One limitation of the study is that this only told researchers how often men picked up bottles of pills, not how often men actually used the pills.
The study also wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how erectile dysfunction drugs might directly cause eye-related side effects.
There are, however, some plausible explanations for why the drugs might cause these side effects, Brian VanderBeek, MD, MPH, and Maureen Maguire, PhD, of the department of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.
For example, ischemic optic neuropathy can develop in people who have unusually low blood pressure at night, the editorial authors write. Erectile dysfunction drugs are often used at night, and are known to lower blood pressure, they note.
In addition, erectile dysfunction drugs can cause thickening of tissue in the middle layer of the wall of the eye, a condition that is associated with retinal detachment, the editorial authors point out. The possible mechanisms for these drugs to cause retinal vascular occlusion aren’t as clear, they write, but it’s possible these medicines might have a negative effect on blood flow within the eyes.
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