Association between topical beta-blockers and risks of cardiovascular and respiratory disease in patients with glaucoma: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To determine if topical beta-blocker use is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in patients with glaucoma. SETTING: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using the database from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance programme. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 12 336 newly diagnosed patients with glaucoma from January 2000 to December 2010 were included. The patients with glaucoma were subdivided into two cohorts according to whether they used topical beta-blockers or combination drugs (BBCDs). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The study endpoints included pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD). Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs for the endpoints of both cohorts. RESULTS: The BBCD cohort had a slightly higher risk of acute respiratory failure (adjusted HRs=1.16, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.34) and lower risk of CAD (aHR=0.93, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.99) than the non-BBCD cohort. Additionally, the risk of stroke was significantly higher in BBCD cohort than in the non-BBCD cohort (aHR=1.39, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.58), especially the ischaemic stroke (aHR=1.44, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.64; aHR=1.44, 98.75% CI 1.21 to 1.71). After considering the multiplicative interaction of age and sex, the BBCD cohort do not have higher risk of all outcomes than the non-BBCD cohort. Further time-dependent regression analysis revealed BBCD cohort had higher risk of acute respiratory failure (aHR=1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.35) and ischaemic stroke (aHR=1.44, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.65) than non-BBCD cohort. However, after considering the multiplicative interaction of age and sex, the BBCD cohort had no significantly higher risk of all outcomes than the non-BBCD cohort. CONCLUSION: Topical beta-blocker is not associated with increased risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in patients with glaucoma.