Glaucoma may be associated with central neurodegenerative diseases
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WASHINGTON — Patients with glaucoma may have an increased prevalence of certain central neurodegenerative diseases, such as various types of non-Alzheimer’s dementia, according to a speaker here.
“We found there is an increased likelihood of open-angle glaucoma patients also having diagnoses of senile dementia, vascular dementia, mild cognitive impairment and other neurodegenerative diseases,” Obi Umunakwe, MD, PhD, said at the American Glaucoma Society annual meeting.
Umunakwe presented the results of a study performed using the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer application to evaluate patient records over a 15-year period. Using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, the researchers identified patients diagnosed with open-angle glaucoma and central neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, vascular dementia, senile dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
The study included 1,484,790 patients, of which 24,982 were diagnosed with glaucoma.
When adjusted for age, patients with ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s showed decreased or no association with glaucoma. However, patients with glaucoma were approximately 60% more likely to also have a diagnosis of senile dementia, 45% more likely to have vascular dementia and twice as likely to have a mild cognitive impairment, Umunakwe said.
“We found a reduced likelihood of a concurrent diagnosis of ALS in open-angle glaucoma patients. This was somewhat unexpected given the identification of genes associated with both diseases. However, we suspect that this finding can at least be partially explained by the fact that ALS is rapidly debilitating, and the median life expectancy after diagnosis is 3 to 5 years,” he said.
Data from the study show glaucoma screening may be beneficial in patients with central neurodegenerative diseases, and at-risk glaucoma patients may benefit from neurocognitive evaluation, Umunakwe said. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference:
Umunakwe O. Increased association of open-angle glaucoma with non-Alzheimer’s dementia and cognitive impairment. Presented at: American Glaucoma Society annual meeting; Feb. 27-March 1, 2020; Washington.
Disclosure: Umunakwe reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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