An Ophthalmic Changes in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Case-Control Study

Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of ophthalmological changes in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) cared for at the Pneumology and Ophthalmology Departments at Medical School Unifacisa-Campina Grande-Paraiba-Brazil. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two smoker patients with COPD (study group) and 22 healthy controls that underwent routine ophthalmological examination (control group) were enrolled in the investigation. They were homogeneous regarding age, gender, presence of Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM). They were examined for the presence of cataract and Age Related Macular Disease (AMD). Results: The prevalence of ophthalmologic changes was significantly different in the two groups. Eight (36.4%) patients presented with cataract requiring surgical intervention, while one (4.5%) person in the control group had cataract (p = 0.0212). Regarding AMD, 10 (45.5%) smoker COPD patients had this disease, whereas in the control group, one (4.5%) person had this disease (p = 0.0039). Conclusion: From the results one can conclude that there is strong association between smokers diagnosed with COPD with cataract and AMD patients, reinforcing the need for a protocol for referral of these patients to the ophthalmologist