Week in Review: Airbag Injury Post-Trabeculectomy, Inequality in Vision Health, Allergic Disease and Risk of Glaucoma

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

Trabeculectomy recovery is challenging enough without worrying about airbag injury. Because airbags deploy at high velocities during auto accidents, they can cause serious ocular injuries to even healthy eyes. A Japanese study used computer simulation models to assess the impact of airbag deployment on eyes that had recently undergone trabeculectomies, and found that at velocities ≥40 meters/second there was a good chance of scleral and/or corneal flap rupture, depending on scleral flap adhesion strength and head position. “Considering that there are few reports of cases of serious blunt trauma by an airbag impact after trabeculectomy, our results may have important meanings for patients who have undergone cataract surgery with an incision at the corneoscleral border,” say the authors, who recommend eye protection for people who have recently undergone trabeculectomies, whether or not they are in the driver’s seat. Clinical Ophthalmology

Systemic inequality continues to influence vision health throughout the US. Investigators conducted a cross-sectional study with the aim of developing public health initiatives to address persistent vision difficulty and blindness (VDB) in certain areas of the United States (US). Using data from the 2012–2016 American Community Survey, they found that 2010 census tracts with higher Theil H Index scores (indicating greater racial segregation), higher Gini index scores (indicating lower household income), and more persistent poverty had greater rates of self-reported VDB. These findings remained after adjusting for census tract population demographics (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity). The authors note that additional research is needed to understand the disease processes behind these findings, and that “work remains to identify which individual patients are in greatest need of targeted intervention to prevent VDB.” JAMA Ophthalmology

Could having an allergic disease increase the risk of glaucoma development? Possibly, according to results from a nationwide South Korean cohort study of 171,129 participants aged 20–39 years, 13.9% of whom had had ≥3 hospital visits due to allergic disease (allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and/or asthma). The incidence of newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) over the study period was 7.08 per 1000 person-years in those with allergic disease and 4.50 per 1000 person-years in those without allergic disease. After adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, hypertension, and other factors, the hazard ratio was 1.39 for POAG development in the allergic disease group. Because the definition of allergic disease was tied to hospital visits, this may have increased the chances of POAG detection. Scientific Reports