Objective: To study the Ocular side effect by chronic use of steroid in Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attending tertiary care center in north India

Method: 500  COPD  patients of age group 50 -90  years with minimum steroid exposure of 4 months and on inhaled corticosteroids  were selected from TBCD and Ophthalmology department, S.N. Medical College and Hospital, Agra during the period of one year August 2017 to August 2018, a detailed clinical history, physical and ocular examination was done. Various investigations and diagnostic criteria were used during study. Average daily dose of inhaled cortico­steroids was defined as low (1–250 μg), medium (251–500 μg), and high (501–1000 μg) using fluticasone propionate equivalents

Result: Out of 500 COPD patients, of which 58 were dropouts. We identified 78 cataract and 24 glaucoma patients with a prevalence of 17.64 % and 5.42% respectively. We also observed a dose-response relationship with the highest prevalence of cataract (39.74%) and glaucoma (41.6%) at daily doses of 501–1000 μg fluticasone propionate equivalents.

Conclusion: Both cataract and glaucoma are associated with Chronic use of high dose inhaled corticosteroid in COPD patients, cataract being the more commoner one, judicious use of such medication can prevent these manifestations.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, steroid-induced cataract, steroid-induced glaucoma,

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Dr Anupriya Mehrotra

Senior Resident, P.G. Department of Ophthalmology, Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Agra-282002 Uttar Pradesh, India

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