Spanish researchers have pinpointed several risk factors beyond intraocular pressure that contribute to open-angle glaucoma (OAG).1
The research team investigated possible factors involved the conversion of ocular hypertension (OHT) to OAG in Spain and Portugal, where the culture and lifestyle differ from other European countries.
They focused on metabolic, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases; lifestyle characteristics, and habits, i.e., body mass index, coffee/tea intake, alcohol/tobacco use, and psychotropic drug use that may affect development and progression of OAG.
The multicentre case-control study included 412 patients with OHT or OAG (age range, 40-80 years; mean, 62 years).
“The highest prevalence rates of the surveyed non-ocular characteristics… were for overweight/obesity and daily coffee consumption, followed by psychochemical drug intake, migraine, and peripheral vasospasm.
“Our data showed that overweight/obesity, migraine, asthma, and smoking are major risk factors for conversion from OHT to OAG in this Spanish and Portuguese population,” the investigators concluded.
They recommended “careful and considered care for the people with these disorders to prevent subsequent visual disability and loss of quality of life”.
The research was conducted by the Ophthalmic Research Unit ‘Santiago Grisolia’, Foundation for Research in Health and Biomedicine, and the Cellular and Molecular Ophthalmobiology Group, Surgery Department, Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, University of Valencia in Spain.
Reference
- Garcia-Villanueva C, Milla E, Bolarin JM, et al. Impact of systemic comorbidities on ocular hypertension and open-angle glaucoma, in a population from Spain and Portugal. J Clin Med. 2022;11(19):5649; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11195649
