Study: Asthma treatment may increase cataract risk
ASSOCIAT£D PRESS

BOSTON Steroid inhalants used by millions of asthma sufferers may
increase the risk of cataracts, a study found.
The study, conducted in Australia on older adults, found that users of
inhaled steroids had double the usual risk of the most common type of
serious cataracts. Asthma experts, however; cautioned that patients should
not stop taking their steroid drugs without first consulting their doctors.
Another recent study, by researchers from McGill University in Montreal,
suggested that heavy use of the inhalants by older people might raise the
risk of glaucoma, another eye disease.
Injected steroids have long been linked with cataracts. Until now,
however; there has been no strong evidence that the inhaled variety a
mainstay of asthma treatment causes this problem.
The latest study was conducted by Mr. Robert G. Cumming and others Vrom
the University of Sydney It was published in today's issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine.
They looked at 3,654 people, ages 49 to 97, including 370 who used
inhaled steroids. They found that cataracts became more common with
increasing use. Among those who had taken the drugs the longest, 27 percent
had cataracts, which was over five times more than usual.
However; Dr. Gary Rachelefsky of UCLA, president of the American Academy
of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology questioned the findings.
"In all the years we have used inhaled corticosteroids, we have not seen
this," he said. "If their numbers are right, we should be seeing an epidemic."
Rachelefsky noted that asthma can be fatal, and patients should not stop
taking their drugs abruptly. Cataracts, which cloud the vision, can be
easily treated by surgically inserting an artifical lens. Since the latest
study was conducted on older people, it does not address the possible risk
of cataracts in young asthma victims who are frequent users of steroid
drugs. Cataracts are extremely rare in the young.