OCT 27, 2023
Comprehensive Ophthalmology, Glaucoma
A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.
In patients with glaucoma, alcohol abstinence could reduce the risk of visual impairment. A South Korean cohort study used data from the National Health Insurance database to evaluate potential associations between alcohol consumption rates following a diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and risk of blindness or severe visual impairment. A total of 13,643 patients with newly diagnosed POAG and self-reported alcohol consumption were included. Twenty-one percent reported alcohol abstinence following POAG diagnosis. Over the follow-up period, 58 patients were diagnosed with blindness or incident visual impairment, 45 of whom were sustained alcohol consumers and 13 of whom were abstainers. Higher risk of blindness or impairment was linked to both mild (<105 g/week) and moderate-to-heavy (≥105 g/week) alcohol consumption. Alcohol abstinence could therefore be recommended in treatment plans for patients with newly diagnosed POAG. JAMA Network Open
TikTok eye-related videos may be entertaining, but not necessarily accurate. Using a search of 37 common eye-related hashtags and various view metrics, researchers identified 723 of the most popular TikTok videos, which they then analyzed for understandability and actionability with the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V) scale. The primarily educational videos (38% of the total) had an average 88.1% PEMAT-A/V understandability score, but only a 50.6% average actionability score. Misinformation was found in 5.4% of all videos, and in 74.4% of those videos, the misinformation was graded as significant. All videos with misinformation were created by non-ophthalmologists. Given the fact that the 723 videos studied had a total of 3.8 billion views, indicating a strong public interest in eye-related content, the authors note that “There is a tremendous opportunity for ophthalmologists to create high-quality educational content on social media to promote patient education, while simultaneously combating misinformation.” Ophthalmology and Therapy
Do diverse research teams increase representation among clinical trial enrollees? Possibly, according to a review of 10 completed and ongoing ophthalmology prospective studies (N = 1380). Forty-four percent of patients meeting initial inclusion criteria identified as Black, 29% as White, and 25% as Hispanic or Latino. After controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, preferred language, insurance status, and Area Deprivation Index score, Black and Hispanic/Latino patients and those with lower socioeconomic status were significantly less likely to give informed consent to study participation than White patients and those with higher socioeconomic status. However, 65% of patients who were approached by a research assistant of the same race/ethnicity provided participation consent, compared with 40% of patients approached by a research assistant of different race/ethnicity (odds ratio 2.72). The authors conclude that “Increasing diversity in research personnel may help to improve racial and ethnic patient representation in clinical studies.” JAMA Ophthalmology