Abstract
Fifty-two elderly glaucomatous patients, without a history of asthma or obstructive airways disease, who were using topical timolol for control of intraocular pressure were recruited. Their topical therapy was changed to either betaxolol or pilocarpine. The change was associated with improvement in mean peak flow from 278 1/min to 328 1/min (t = 5.73, p< 0.001), mean FEV1 from 1.66 1 to 1.85 1 (t = 7.09,p<0.001) and mean FVC from 2.40 1 to 2.64 1 (t = 5.07, p<0.001). Change to either betaxolol or pilocarpine was associated with improved lung function tests. Lung function tests in a control group of 20 showed no significant changes. Both drugs maintained control of intraocular pressure but betaxolol had fewer ocular side effects.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Gibson JM, Rosenthal AR, Lavery J . A study of the prevalence of eye disease in the elderly in an English community. Trans Ophthalmol Soc UK 1985;104:196–203.
Kini MM, Leibowski HM, Colton T, Nickerson RJ, Ganley J, Dawber TR . Prevalence of senile cataract, diabetic ret-inopathy, senile macular degeneration and open angle glaucoma in the Framingham study. Am J Ophthalmol 1978;85:28–33.
Vernon SA, Henry DJ, Cater L, Jones SJ . Screening for glaucoma in the community by non-ophthalmologically trained staff. Eye 1990;4:89–97.
Zimmermen TJ, Kaufman HE . Timolol: a beta adrenergic blocking agent for the treatment of glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol 1977;95:601–4.
Radius RL, Diamond GR, Pollack IP, Langham E . Timolol: a new drug for the management of chronic simple glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol 1978;96:1003–8.
Alvan G, Caissendorff B, Seideman P, Widmark K, Widmark G . Absorption of ocular timolol. Clin Pharmokinet 1980;5:95–100.
Affrime MB, Lowenthal DT, Torbert JA, Shirk J, Eidelson B, Cook T, Onesti G . Dynamics and kinetics of ophthalmic timolol. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1980;27:471–7.
Jones FL, Ekberg NG . Exacerbation of asthma by timolol. N Engl J Med 1979;301:270.
Charan NB, Lakshminarayan S . Pulmonary effects of topical timolol. Arch Intern Med 1980;140:843–4.
Schoene RB, Martin TR, Charan NB, French CL . Timolol induced bronchospasm in asthmatic bronchitis. JAMA 1981;245:1460–1.
Burr ML, Charles TJ, Roy K, Seaton A . Asthma in an elderly population: an epidemiological survey. BMJ 1979;1:1041–4.
Caird FI, Akhtar AJ . Chronic respiratory disease in the elderly: a population survey. Thorax 1972;27:764–8.
Banerjee DK, Lee GS, Malik SK, Daly S . Underdiagnosis of asthma in the elderly. Br J Dis Chest 1987;81:23–9.
Horsley JR, Sterling IJN, Waters WE, Howell JLB . Respiratory symptoms among elderly people in the New Forest area as assessed by postal questionnaire. Age Ageing 1991;20:325.
Chowienczyk J, Lawson CP . A pocket sized device for measuring forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity. BMJ 1982;285:15–17.
Snider GL, Woolf CR, Kory RC, Ross J . Criteria for the assessment of reversibility in airways obstruction. Report of the committee on emphysema, the American College of Physicians. Chest 1974;65:552–63.
Reyes PF, Dwyer BA, Schwartzman RJ, Sacchetti T . Mental status changes induced by eye drops in dementia of Alzheimer's type. J Neurosurg Psychiatry 1989;50:113–5.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Diggory, P., Heyworth, P., Chau, G. et al. Improved lung function tests on changing from topical timolol: Non-selective beta-blockade impairs lung function tests in elderly patients. Eye 7, 661–663 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1993.151
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1993.151
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Medical Service Encounters and Payments Associated with Topical Adjunctive Therapy Use of Timolol for Glaucoma
Clinical Drug Investigation (2012)
-
Resting pulse rates in a glaucoma clinic: the effect of topical and systemic beta-blocker usage
Eye (2006)
-
Is poor life expectancy a predictive factor in the progression of primary open angle glaucoma?
Eye (2005)
-
The effect of timolol drops on respiratory function
Eye (1998)
-
Letter
Eye (1994)