Glaucoma and Diabetes Link

Women with type 2 diabetes have nearly twice the risk of developing glaucoma than those without diabetes. This was reported in the journal Ophthalmology, using results from the Nurses’ Health Study. Among the more than 76,000 women enrolled in this study there were 429 cases of glaucoma (open-angle glaucoma).

After making the necessary adjustments for potential confounding factors – things that might bias or influence the result, such as age, race, or smoking – it emerged that type 2 diabetes was associated with nearly twice the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma. The relative risk was 2.24 times in the first 5 years of diabetes, and 1.54 times subsequently. There doesn’t seem to be a good explanation for this change in risk with time.

This association is an example of comorbidity (which we have discussed before). The main consequence should be for all the millions of type 2 diabetics to have regular eye check-ups, paying attention not only to the possibility of diabetic retinopathy, but also to ocular pressure changes.