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Comment on ‘smoking delays the response to treatment in episcleritis and scleritis’

Eye volume 20, page 1412 (2006)Cite this article

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Sir,

We read with interest the recent paper by Boonman et al,1 which reported a delay in response to treatment of scleritis in smokers compared with that in non-smokers. The authors postulated pharmacological and immunological reasons that may explain this. One explanation that they did not address is different rates of treatment compliance between the two groups.

This is an important consideration as smoking has been shown to be a predictor of poor compliance with treatment in a diverse range of conditions including acne,2 renal failure,3 epilepsy,4 and hyperlipidaemia.5

References

  1. Boonman ZFHM, de Keizer RJ, Watson PG . Smoking delays the response to treatment in episcleritis and scleritis. Eye 2005; 19: 949–955.

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  2. Zaghloul SS, Cunliffe WJ, Goodfield MJ . Objective assessment of compliance with treatments in acne. Br J Dermatol 2005; 152(5): 1015–1021.

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  3. Kutner NG, Zhang R, McClellan WM, Cole SA . Psychosocial predictors of non-compliance in haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2002; 17(1): 93–99.

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  4. Kyngas H . Compliance with health regimens of adolescents with epilepsy. Seizure 2000; 9(8): 598–604.

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  5. Kim YS, Sunwoo S, Lee HR, Park YW, Shin HC et al. Determinants of non-compliance with lipid-lowering therapy in hyperlipidaemic patients. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2002; 117): 593–600.

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Acknowledgements

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  1. Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, UK

    N Ali

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Correspondence to N Ali.

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Ali, N. Comment on ‘smoking delays the response to treatment in episcleritis and scleritis’. Eye 20, 1412 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6702267

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6702267

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