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No clinically meaningful benefit from short-term use of blue-light filtering lenses
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No clinically meaningful benefit from short-term use of blue-light filtering lenses
How effective and safe are blue-light filtering lenses compared with non-blue-light filtering lenses, for improving visual performance, providing macular protection and improving sleep quality in adults?
For the primary outcome measure of subjective visual fatigue, 3 trials reported no significant difference in symptoms with blue-light filtering lenses compared with non-blue-light filtering lenses. Further, 2 studies showed no clinically meaningful difference in critical flicker-fusion frequency (often used to quantify visual fatigue).
For the secondary outcome measures, the trial that assessed best-corrected visual acuity reported no significant difference between intervention arms. The 2 trials that evaluated daytime alertness using subjective symptom scores reported no significant difference between blue-light filtering and non-blue-light filtering lenses. For the sleep outcome, only 3 trials provided quantitative data and reported no significant difference in subjective sleep quality between intervention arms.
There were not enough data to determine possible harmful effects with certainty.
Note that 65% of included trials had a follow-up period of less than 2 weeks. As such, the longer-term potential benefits and adverse effects of blue-light filtering lenses on the prespecified outcomes investigated in this review are not known. Additionally, 88% of these studies specifically targeted populations with mania, depression and insomnia symptoms, so there is limited information relating to the effects of blue-light filtering lenses in healthy older adults.
Blue-light filtering or blocking spectacle lenses filter ultraviolet radiation and varying portions of short-wavelength visible light from reaching the eye. Various blue-light filtering lenses are commercially available. Some claims exist that they can improve visual performance with digital device use, provide retinal protection and promote sleep quality. However, the mechanism(s) by which these lenses might impart at least some of these effects remains unclear.
Singh S, et al. Blue-light filtering spectacle lenses for visual performance, sleep, and macular health in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2023;8:CD013244. This review contains 17 trials with a total of 619 participants