Glaucoma can affect balance, study finds

People with primary open angle glaucoma have a “deficit” in the visual contribution to their steadiness of posture, according to a study. This should be taken into account to help prevent glaucoma patients’ falls, the authors of the study said.

Noor Shabana, MB, BS, and colleagues in Singapore and France compared elements of postural balance in 35 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma to 21 age-matched healthy subjects. They recorded the sway of the center of pressure of the feet on a firm or foam support. Subjects stood on a force-plate with eyes closed, with one eye open and with both eyes open.

Sway velocity was lower with vision than without, “indicating the existence of a visual contribution to posture at all stages of glaucoma,” the study authors said. That contribution was significantly lower for the patients with glaucoma than for the healthy participants with both monocular and binocular vision, and it decreased as the patient’s Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study score increased. The mean deviation of the worse eye presented the most significant negative correlation with the visual contribution to posture, the study authors said.

The study is published in the June issue of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.