Antiglaucoma medications during pregnancy and the risk of low birth weight: a population-based study

Objective: To study the relationship between using antiglaucoma medications during pregnancy and the risk of having low-birth-weight (LBW) infants. Methods: The study group comprised 244 pregnant women who had been prescribed topical medication to control glaucoma during pregnancy. The comparison group comprised 1952 pregnant women matched for age, year of delivery, maternal hypertension and gestational diabetes. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to calculate the adjusted odds ratio of having LBW infants. Results: The majority of pregnant women (77.5%) were prescribed beta-blockers to control glaucoma. After adjusting for characteristics of the infant (gender, parity and gestational age), mother (age, the highest educational level, marital status, hypertension and gestational diabetes), father (the highest educational level), parental age difference and family monthly income, there was no significant difference in the risk of LBW infants between mothers prescribed beta-blockers and mothers in the comparison cohort (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.48, 95% CI 0.86 to 2.56). However, there was a significantly higher risk of LBW infants for mothers prescribed topical antiglaucoma medications other than beta-blockers (adjusted OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.05 to 5.00). Conclusions: Topical beta-blockers can be the first-line drugs when considering medical treatment of glaucoma in a pregnant woman.