Topical beta-blockers appear the best choice for treating glaucoma in pregnant women

Researchers used a population-based dataset to determine the odds of having a low birth weight infant among pregnant women prescribed topical medication for glaucoma compared to a randomly selected control group of pregnant women. A majority of the pregnant women (77.5 percent) in the study group were prescribed beta-blockers.  After adjusting for confounding factors, there was no significant difference between the two groups. However, there was a significantly higher risk of low-birth weight infants among women prescribed topical antiglaucoma medications other than beta-blockers.

The significantly increased risk associated with anti-glaucoma medications other than beta-blockers was likely influenced by the subgroups using carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (28.6 percent had low birth weight babies) and cholinergics (25 percent had low birth weight babies). Also, the number of patients taking anti-glaucoma medications other than beta-blockers was also relatively small. As a result, the authors write that the possibility of a chance finding cannot be excluded.