Oral Fluoroquinolones, Retinal Detachments, and Claims Database Studies

In this issue of JAMA Opthalmology, Raguideau et al¹ add to the literature supporting an association between oral fluoroquinolone use and an increased risk of retinal detachment (RD). Understanding the potential adverse events associated with fluoroquinolone use is of great public health importance owing to its widespread clinical usefulness. In performing this study, the authors used 2 French national administrative medical claims databases to generate their data. Although databases similar to the ones used within this study have been commonly used in observational research across most other medical specialties for the past 25 years, their application to ophthalmic research has only become more commonplace in recent years. Because of this, it is important to remember both the inherent strengths and weaknesses that these types of databases offer before the reported association is applied to clinical decision making.