Asthmatics at risk of cataract

The research looked at more than 15,000 cataract patients and a similar number of matched subjects without cataract. Over 11 per cent of the cataract group had been long-term steroid inhaler users compared with over 7 per cent of those without the eye condition, claims the study in this month's British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Use of steroids has long been linked with posterior subcapsular cataract, along with rises in intraocular pressure and a variety of anterior changes, but it had been thought that the doses inhaled by asthmatics were too small to cause any ocular effects.
The new study, while confirming little or no risk for those on low doses (400µg), suggests that the risk increases to around 70 per cent in those using doses above 1600µg per day.