Is optic disc drusen a risk factor in young patients with anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy?
Reviewed by Tasmin Berman

This retrospective cross-section multicentre study reviewed 65 patients all younger than 50-years-old with non-arteritic anterior optic neuropathy (NA-AION) between April 2017 and March 2019. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was a link between Optic Disc Drusen (ODD) and NA-AION in younger patients (less than 50-years-old). They found that 51% of patients had ODD in the eye affected by NA-AION and 43% of the fellow eyes without NA-AION. Fifty-four percent of patients without ODD had one or more vascular risk factors (diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and obesity) compared with 35% of patients with ODD, however, this was not statistically different. There was also no statistical difference in visual acuity in patients with and without ODD in NA-AION. This is the first large scale study investigating whether optic disc drusen is an independent risk factor for NA-AION and suggests that rates of ODD in younger patients with NA-AION has previously been underestimated. This research has some limitations including excluding patients that had not had imaging to confirm or exclude ODD which may have lead them to overestimate the prevalence. Further research and prospective analysis are needed to provide a more accurate prevalence of ODD in NA-AION in young patients.

Young adults with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy: A multi-centre optic disc drusen study.
Hamann S, Malmqvist L, Wegener M, et al.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
2020;217:174-81.