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BOSTON, Jul 10, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A 20-year U.S. study of women suggests Type 2 diabetes is associated with primary open angle glaucoma -- the most common form of glaucoma.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Brigham and Women's Hospital said POAG accounts for between 60 percent and 70 percent of all glaucomas.
The study involved more than 76,000 women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study from 1980 to 2000. Eligible participants were at least 40 years old, did not have POAG at the beginning of the study and reported receiving eye exams during follow-up.
After controlling for factors such as age, race, hypertension and family history of glaucoma, the researchers found type 2 diabetes was positively associated with POAG.
The study supports the hypothesis notion type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma, said Dr. Louis Pasquale, lead author and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
"While obesity fuels the type 2 diabetes epidemic, it appears that factors unrelated to obesity contribute to the positive association between type 2 diabetes and glaucoma," Pasquale said.
The study appears in the July issue of the journal Ophthalmology.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
