Amendments to optometric regulations will allow optometrists in British Columbia to prescribe medications to treat glaucoma. “It’s not uncommon for rural patients to wait over a year or travel hundreds of kilometers to receive treatment,” says Surjinder Sahota, O.D., president of the British Columbia Association of Optometrists. “By allowing doctors of optometry to prescribe anti-glaucoma medications, patients will have greater access to timely and appropriate eye care in all areas of the province.”

Cataract surgery may reduce the risk of hip fractures among elderly people by up to 23%, according to a recent study in Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at more than one million Medicare patients age 65 and older who were diagnosed with cataracts between 2002 and 2009. Results suggest cataract surgery may be a cost-effective way to reduce the risk of falls and hip fractures among older adults.

People who take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have a 57% increased risk for cataracts, according to a new study in Optometry and Vision Science. Statistically, the increase in cataract risk with statins is similar to that associated with diabetes. However, the authors emphasize that the known benefits of statin treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes probably outweigh any increased risk of cataracts. These findings serve to encourage further research on alternative cholesterol-lowering drugs that are not associated with an increased risk of cataracts, the authors wrote.