Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The British Journal of Ophthalmology logoLink to The British Journal of Ophthalmology
. 1978 May;62(5):296–301. doi: 10.1136/bjo.62.5.296

Atenolol versus adrenaline eye drops and an evaluation of these two combined.

C I Phillips, S M Gore, P M Gunn
PMCID: PMC1043217  PMID: 350264

Abstract

In a 1-day, 1-dose, double-masked, randomised trial, with each of 12 patients acting as his/her own control, atenolol drops 4% (a selective beta1-adrenergic blocker) produced a significantly greater fall in ocular tension measured by applanation than did adrenaline drops 1% (P is less than 0.01 Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test). The mean differences, which favoured atenolol, between the falls in pressure produced by these 2 drugs at 1.5 hours, 3.5 hours, 5.5 hours, and 7 hours after instillation of the drops was 2.1, 4.6, 4.0, and 3.6 mmHg, respectively. Long-term studies would be required before any conclusion was justified about the relative merits of these 2 drugs in the treatment of glaucoma. There was no significant difference between the ocular hypotensive effects of atenolol-then-adrenaline and adrenaline-then-atenolol. It was disappointing that the expected adjuvant effect of atenolol's preceding adrenaline was not found-rather the reverse. Atenolol alone, however, was significantly better than atenolol-then-adrenaline (P is less than 0.02 Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test), and there was also some indication that it was superior to adrenaline-then-atenolol. The response to adrenaline did not differ markedly from the response to the combination in either order.

Full text

PDF
296

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bonomi I., Steindler P. Effect of pindolol on intraocular pressure. Br J Ophthalmol. 1975 Jun;59(6):301–303. doi: 10.1136/bjo.59.6.301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Coté G., Drance S. M. The effect of propranolol on human intraocular pressure. Can J Ophthalmol. 1968 Jul;3(3):207–212. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Elliot M. J., Cullen P. M., Phillips C. I. Ocular hypotensive effect of atenolol (Tenormin, I.C.I.). A new beta-adrenergic blocker. Br J Ophthalmol. 1975 Jun;59(6):296–300. doi: 10.1136/bjo.59.6.296. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Musini A., Fabbri B., Bergamaschi M., Mandelli V., Shanks R. G. Comparison of the effect of propranolol, lignocaine, and other drugs on normal and raised intraocular pressure in man. Am J Ophthalmol. 1971 Oct;72(4):773–781. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(71)90017-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Paterson G. D., Paterson G. A comparison of the ocular hypotensive actions of salbutamol and adrenaline in chronic simple glaucoma. Postgrad Med J. 1971 Mar;47(Suppl):122–124. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Phillips C. I., Gore S. M., Macdonald M. J., Cullen P. M. Atenolol eye drops in glaucoma: a double-masked, controlled study. Br J Ophthalmol. 1977 May;61(5):349–353. doi: 10.1136/bjo.61.5.349. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Phillips C. I., Howitt G., Rowlands D. J. Propranolol as ocular hypotensive agent. Br J Ophthalmol. 1967 Apr;51(4):222–226. doi: 10.1136/bjo.51.4.222. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Phillips C. I., Macdonald M., Gore S. M., Cullen P. M. Atenolol eye drops. Br Med J. 1976 Dec 11;2(6049):1448–1448. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6049.1448-b. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Vale J., Gibbs A. C., Phillips C. I. Topical propranolol and ocular tension in the human. Br J Ophthalmol. 1972 Oct;56(10):770–775. doi: 10.1136/bjo.56.10.770. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Vale J., Phillips C. I. Effect of DL- and D-propranolol on oscular tension in rabbits and patients. Exp Eye Res. 1970 Jan;9(1):82–90. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4835(70)80061-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Vale J., Phillips C. I. Practolol (Eraldin) eye drops as an ocular hypotensive agent. Br J Ophthalmol. 1973 Mar;57(3):210–214. doi: 10.1136/bjo.57.3.210. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Wettrell K., Pandolfi M. Effect of oral administration of various beta-blocking agents on the intraocular pressure in healthy volunteers. Exp Eye Res. 1975 Nov;21(5):451–456. doi: 10.1016/0014-4835(75)90126-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wettrell K., Pandolfi M. Effect of topical atenolol on intraocular pressure. Br J Ophthalmol. 1977 May;61(5):334–338. doi: 10.1136/bjo.61.5.334. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Zimmerman T. J., Harbin R., Pett M., Kaufman H. E. Timolol and facility of outflow. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1977 Jul;16(7):623–624. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Zimmerman T. J., Kaufman H. E. Timolol, dose response and duration of action. Arch Ophthalmol. 1977 Apr;95(4):605–607. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1977.04450040071009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Zimmerman T. J., Kaufman H. E. Timolol. A beta-adrenergic blocking agent for the treatment of glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 1977 Apr;95(4):601–604. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1977.04450040067008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. el-Sharaf E. D., Haroun E. A., Ishaac Z., el-Shewy T. M., el-Nassef A. H. The effect of some beta-adrenergic blockers on human intraocular pressure. Exp Eye Res. 1974 Sep;19(3):223–225. doi: 10.1016/0014-4835(74)90140-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The British Journal of Ophthalmology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES