Glaucoma risk modestly low in diabetes

Patients with diabetes mellitus are at reduced risk of developing open-angle glaucoma (OAG), although the magnitude of reduction is modest, according to a study.

The longitudinal population-based Finnish study comprised 244,100 diabetes patients aged ≥40 years and a reference population matched by age, gender, and hospital district. The incidence of OAG was determined using medication reimbursement certificates and hospital billing records, compared between the patients and reference groups.

The mean age of the population was 62.5 years, and 44.7 percent were women. Over a mean follow-up of 9.8 years, a total of 2,721 (1.1 percent) individuals developed OAG. Of these incident OAG cases, 1,248 were documented in the diabetes group over 1.16 million person-years of follow-up (incidence rate, 1.08 per 1,000 person-years, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.02–1.14) and 1,473 in the reference population over 1.24 million person-years (incidence rate, 1.19 1,000 person-years, 95 percent CI, 1.13–1.26).

The corresponding rate ratio was 0.90 (95 percent CI, 0.84–0.97), indicating a lower glaucoma incidence in the diabetes group. Poisson regression models adjusted for multiple confounders confirmed the association between diabetes and lower risk of OAG (incidence rate ratio, 0.92, 95 percent CI, 0.85–0.99).

The lower risk of OAG among diabetes patients observed in the study may be attributed to the recent advances in the care of diabetes in Finland—including a publicly funded healthcare system, early detection of diabetes, and a holistic treatment approach aimed at the full spectrum of metabolic syndrome and diabetic complications—according to the researchers.