Abstract
In a study of 46 adults aged 28–71 years with untreated phenylketonuria (PKU) there were 3 (6.5%) with cataracts. This incidence was similar to that in the Australian population and in a control series of intellectually disabled adults. Only two of the PKU patients with cataracts could be examined by slit-lamp biomicroscopy and in both the findings suggested that the prolonged use of phenothiazines may have played a role. Slit-lamp examination of a further ten untreated PKU patients and 13 PKU adults who had been treated in childhood revealed only small lens opacities (in 40%) of a type found in 72.7% of a control group. The study provides no support for claims that PKU can cause cataracts.
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Abbreviations
- PKU:
-
phenylketonuria
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Pitt, D.B., O'Day, J. Phenylketonuria does not cause cataracts. Eur J Pediatr 150, 661–664 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02072629
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02072629