Who is at Risk for Glaucoma?

Stress | Diet | Genes | Diabetes | Obesity | Heart Disease | Hypertension
Thyroid | Race | Near/Farsight | Steroids | Computers | Other Drugs

Glaucoma is an insidious disease - because one typically does not notice its development. Glaucoma is characterized by increasing loss of peripheral vision eventually leading to severe vision loss or blindness if untreated. Only 8% of all American understand that glaucoma's development is not detectable without a glaucoma screening.

According to the National Eye Health Education Program, 68% percent of all adults who have glaucoma or who suspect glaucoma have been told by their physician that they have other chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease or cancer. These conditions and others are signals for elevated risk for development of glaucoma.

Living a Stressful life

High level of stress - has been implicated as a major cause of chronic glaucoma. For example, stress causes us to breath shallowly, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream, causing venous backflow in the head. This may effect the eye's ability to revolve eye fluids, which results in increased pressure. Although we do not know exactly how the optic nerve is damaged in glaucoma, one common factor in all cases of glaucoma is a lack of bloodflow to the retina and optic nerve. This results in retinal nerve cell death, enlargement of the optic cup, and loss of vision.

Poor Diet or Digestion

Nutritional Deficiencies and Poor Digestion - Often sufferers of glaucoma are deficient in some or many of the important nutrients including essential fatty acids, lutein, zeaxanthin, taurine, antioxidants, bioflavenoids, zinc, selenium, vitamin B-complex.

Poor digestion often results from a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach needed to breakdown food, which becomes more common as we age. Use of excessive antibiotics is also a prime culprit in poor digestion due to the killing of important stomach flora.

At the American Glaucoma Society meeting, Dr. JoAnn A. Giaconi reported that women who reported eating greater amounts of fruits and vegetables appeared to have a lower likelihood of developing glaucoma. More detail ...

Researchers at the Department of Ophthalmology and Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California-Los Angeles, studied the association between consumption of fruits and vegetables and the presence of glaucoma in 1,155 women. Glaucoma specialists evaluated the women for glaucoma; consumption of fruits and vegetables was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. More detail ... Their results?

Family History of Glaucoma

Scientists have long believed that there is a link between a gene named WDR36 and glaucoma, but have been unable to determine what the gene does and why some people with variations of the gene get glaucoma while others don't.

University of Alberta geneticist, Dr. Michael Walter, has published results of a new study which helps to explain this link. More detail ...

Diabetes

There are conflicting conclusions as to whether diabetics are more at risk for glaucoma. Dr. Leon Herndon, associate professor of ophthalmology at Duke University Medical Center, says, "If there is an association between the two, it is weak." Herndon says the correlation may be simply that people with diabetes go to the doctor more, which in turn may lead to an increased diagnosis rate for glaucoma. Source:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_5_59/ai_113681692/

An April, 2009 study published in Opthamology Times Europe reports that there is research supporting the idea and also research which does not support it. The main point of their extensive documentation however, is that glaucoma is more prevalent in diabetics than in the general population. They conclude that whether or not there is greater risk, what becomes important is that all those who have diabetes also have a regular screening for glaucoma. Source: www.oteurope.com/ ophthalmologytimeseurope/ article/articleDetail.jsp?id=590441&sk=&date=&pageID=4

Heart Disease

Cardiovascular disease, or heart disease results in restricted blood flow. This includes blood flow to the eyes, eye tissues, nerves, etc - which is a causal factor for development of glaucoma. For 50 years, researchers have known or suspected this to be the case. There are so many other factors closely tied to heart disease, such as obesity and high blood pressure.

High Blood Pressure

Vital P Costa of the University of Brazil and others point out that high blood pressure is tied to glaucoma. Source: http://bjo.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bjo.2008.149047v2. Unstable blood pressure and fluctuations and dips in blood pressure are also linked to optic nerve damage.

Obesity

There is pretty strong evidence that people who are significantly overweight are at greater risk of glaucoma. A large Japanese study with more than 70,139 subjects over the course of 9 years concluded that there was significant association between inter-ocular pressure (an indication of glaucoma) and obesity. Source: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/ cgi/content/full/29/4/661

Of course, from a cardiovascular point of view, obesity is associated with poor blood circulation, including poor blood circulation in the eyes - resulting in eye disease. Being very overweight contributes to high blood pressure because it damages the heart, reducing circulation, and which damages the blood vessels that supply the tissues in the eye as well as other tissues in the body. Also see research about blood pressure and glaucoma.

Hyperthyroidism

Researchers at the University of Alabama surveyed 12,376 participants, and believe that thyroid disorders may also increase the risk of glaucoma. They surveyed self-reported diagnoses of glaucoma and a self-reported history of thyroid problems. and noted that an association between glaucoma and thyroid problems remained after adjusting for differences in age, gender, race and smoking status. They suspect that hypothyroidism may diminish outflow in the eye. Another idea is that in hyperthyroidism, marked by prominent eyes, the eyes are exposed to increased pressure from intraorbital swelling.

Race

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness among African-Americans and is six to eight times more common than in Caucasians. Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology. In addition, the risk among black people increases after age 40. Hispanics also have a high risk of developing glaucoma. Eskimos and Asians are more like to develop closed-angle glaucoma than other races. Also see A Diet High in Antioxidants May Help Prevent Glaucoma in Black Women

Steroids

Use of steroids, in the form of eyedrops, nosedrops or inhalants, or given intravenously or injected into the eye, is known to elevate eye pressure in 16% of the people using them. This is known as steroid-induced glaucoma Medications prescribed for a variety of systemic conditions (eg, depression, allergies, Parkinson disease) can cause an attack of acute angle-closure glaucoma in some people. Source: http://emedicine.medscape.com/ article/1205298-overview The conclusion? Again, the importance of regular glaucoma screenings as part of regular eye exams for those who regularly take steroids, as, for example, asthma suffers who use inhalers for longer than 3 months. Also see http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1311556.

Heavy Computer Use

We are now seeing that those who use computers heavily are at greater risk for glaucoma than the general public, particularly those who are short-sighted.

A 2004 cross-sectional study in 9124 Japanese workers indicated that there was a possible association between heavy computer users and glaucomatous visual field abnormalities. In other words - if you use computers heavily, ie, programers, software engineers, gamers,

The study looked at typical daily computer use, as well as long-term computer use history. More than 500 participants (5.4%) had problems with their peripheral vision. Of that group, one third were found to have glaucoma ... perhaps more than a third, since some workers with peripheral vision problems didn't receive all the testing to accurately diagnose glaucoma.

Even more significant was that heavy computer users who were farsighted or nearsighted seemed to have a higher risk. Nearsightedness was found in 82% of those with glaucoma.

Nearsightedness / Farsightedness

Finally, extreme nearsightedness or extreme farsighted people are at higher risk for glaucoma. Nearsighted patients have a twofold to threefold increased risk of glaucoma.

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