Uveitis Risk following Oral Fluoroquinolone Therapy: A Nested Case-control Study

Abstract

Objective: To determine the risk of uveitis associated with the use of oral fluoroquinolones.

Methods: Nested case-control study of all patients who visited an ophthalmologist in British Columbia, Canada, between 2000 and 2007, as captured in the British Columbia Health Linked Database.

Results: A total 3383 incident cases of uveitis and 33,830 corresponding controls were identified. Among patients who had used oral fluoroquinolones within the past 30 days, the adjusted relative risk of uveitis was 3.53 (95% CI, 2.84–4.39). However, the relative risk of uveitis among patients taking oral macrolides and beta-lactams was also significantly elevated.

Conclusions: Our data do not provide convincing evidence of an association between fluoroquinolones and uveitis, as this study found an association between several classes of antibiotics and uveitis. It is possible that the systemic processes for which these antibiotics are being prescribed are in fact the inciting factors for the uveitis.

• Antibiotic
• beta-lactam
• case-control study
• drug safety
• fluoroquinolone
• macrolide
• uveitis