Evaluation Incidence of Ocular Complications of Hydroxychloroquine and Related Risk Factors in Patients with Connective Tissue Disease Referred to the Rheumatology Clinic of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj

Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat many rheumatic diseases. This drug has been widely used, especially in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. One of the most important side effects of these drugs is retinopathy and changes in the visual field. This study aimed to determine the incidence of ocular complications caused by hydroxychloroquine and its related factors.

In this prospective study, 505 patients were investigated. These patients underwent complete ophthalmological examinations periodically every six months. If patients had impaired visual field in the perimeter, the visual field examination was repeated two weeks later. If there were specific findings, it was recorded as retinopathy and visual field defect. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed for patients if the perimeter findings in the retest were nonspecific.

Several of the 51 cases (10.09%) had eye problems, and 24 (4.75%) had problems other than retinopathy. Problems in perimetry or visual field defects were reported in 27 patients (5.34%) who had recurrent perimetry and 15 patients reported specific drug-related perimetry findings. The results showed that in terms of the underlying disease and its relationship with the incidence of ocular complications in patients, a significant relationship was observed between chronic renal failure and the incidence of complications (P=0.022).

The incidence of hydroxychloroquine-induced retinopathy appears to be relatively high in our region. Due to the significant association with chronic renal failure, screening should be done more carefully in these patients.