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weekly e-journal by Art Epstein, OD, FAAO
Off the Cuff: The Uncertain Future of Corporate Optometry
This isn’t an easy piece to write and I realize that what I am going to say will not be easy to hear for some. Understand that I am sharing these thoughts and observations because the profession needs to consider them and be proactive in dealing with these important issues before it is too late.
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Combined Vision and Hearing Difficulties Results in Higher Levels of Depression and Chronic Anxiety | ||||
Individually, vision and hearing impairments have been linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression. Researchers investigated the effect of dual sensory impairment (difficulty seeing and hearing) in a large representative sample of Spanish adults. Data from a total of 23,089 adults (age range: 15 to 103 years, 45.9% men) from the Spanish National Health Survey 2017 were analyzed. Self-reported difficulty of seeing and hearing (exposures), and depression and chronic anxiety (outcomes) were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was assessed for difficulty with vision alone, hearing alone and with difficulty with both, adjusting for gender, age, marital status, living as a couple, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, BMI, physical activity, use of glasses/contact lenses and hearing aid. |
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SOURCE: Pardhan S, Smith L, Bourne R, et al. Combined vision and hearing difficulties results in higher levels of depression and chronic anxiety: data from a large sample of Spanish adults. Front Psychol. 2021; Jan 18. [Epub ahead of print]. |
Effects of Scleral Contact Lenses for Keratoconus Management on Visual Quality and Intraocular Pressure | ||||
This prospective case series compared visual acuity obtained with glasses, RGP and 16.8mm diameter scleral CL in 30 consecutive patients affected by keratoconus to evaluate the visual acuity level achieved by scleral contact lens (CL) fitting in patients affected by keratoconus and to evaluate possible intraocular pressure (IOP) changes during the scleral CL wear using a transpalpebral tonometer. IOP was tested during scleral CL wear by transpalpebral Diaton Tonometer (DT) and also by Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT) before and after scleral CL wear.
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SOURCE: Formisano M, Franzone F, Alisi L, et al. Effects of scleral contact lenses for keratoconus management on visual quality and intraocular pressure. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2021 Jan 25;17:79-85. |
Prevalence of Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma in the Last 20 Years: a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review | ||||
This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the worldwide prevalence of primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and its risk factors in the last 20 years. Investigators conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 population-based studies and 144,354 subjects. PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched for cross-sectional or cohort studies published in the last 20 years (2000 to 2020) that reported the prevalence of PACG. The prevalence of PACG was analyzed according to various risk factors. A random-effects model was used for the meta-analysis. The global pooled prevalence of PACG was 0.6% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.5-0.8%] for the last 20 years. The prevalence of PACG increased with age. Men were found less likely to have PACG than women (risk ratio = 0.71, 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.93, p<0.01). Asia was found to have the highest prevalence of PACG (0.7%, 95% CI, 0.6 to 1.0%). The current estimated population with PACG is 17.14 million (95% CI, 14.28 to 22.85) for people older than 40 years old worldwide, with 12.30 million (95% CI, 10.54 to 17.57) in Asia. It was estimated that by 2050, the global population with PACG will be 26.26 million, with 18.47 million in Asia. |
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SOURCE: Zhang N, Wang J, Chen B, et al. Prevalence of primary angle closure glaucoma in the last 20 years: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Front Med (Lausanne). 2021; Jan 18. [Epub ahead of print]. |
News & Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WebMD Announces New Effort to Combat Vaccine Misinformation With misinformation continuing to undermine public confidence in the Covid-19 vaccines, WebMD has launched the WebMD Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation Center to help combat inaccuracies with facts. The center provides reliable vaccine resources and online tools to help consumers make informed decisions, driven by science, and features articles and videos on topics including vaccine myths and how they take root, public health challenges and the role of social media in misinformation. Medscape, a division of WebMD Health Corp., will feature content and resources at its Covid-19 Resource Center, including vaccine overviews, late-stage vaccine development updates and news on vaccine research. WebMD and Medscape have also joined with corporate, nonprofit and media leaders in a global public service campaign, VaxFacts, to identify and counter misleading vaccine information. Led by HealthGuard, the campaign features a browser extension that flags health hoaxes, provides credibility ratings for hundreds of websites and guides users to sources that offer trusted information. The tool is a new service from NewsGuard, developed by two veteran journalists in 2018 to combat misinformation in the news. So far, HealthGuard has flagged nearly 400 websites for publishing misinformation and myths about COVID-19 vaccines. Read more. |
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Surface Ophthalmics Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase II Trial for SURF-200 for Acute Dry Eye Surface Ophthalmics announced the first patient was dosed in the Phase II clinical trial for its investigational product SURF-200 (betamethasone in Klarity vehicle) for the treatment of acute dry eye. In this dose-ranging study, SURF-200 will be studied in two different low-concentration formulations, which include betamethasone in the Klarity vehicle. Read more. |
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J&J Vision Gets FDA Nod for Tecnis Eyhance & Tecnis Eyhance Toric II IOLs Johnson & Johnson Vision announced the FDA approved the Tecnis Eyhance and Tecnis Eyhance Toric II intraocular lens for the treatment of cataract patients in the United States. With this approval and subsequent commercial launch, ophthalmologists in the United States now have the ability to choose this next-generation monofocal for patients with or without astigmatism. Read more. |
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Optometric Physician™ (OP) newsletter is owned and published by Dr. Arthur Epstein. It is distributed by the Review Group, a Division of Jobson Medical Information LLC (JMI), 19 Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073. HOW TO ADVERTISE |