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March 11, 2024
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Glaucoma subtype risk linked with specific visual field defects

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Patients with genetic risk for different glaucoma subtypes had an associated risk for different visual field defects, according to a study.

In a presentation at the American Glaucoma Society meeting, Sayuri Sekimitsu said that primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is a heritable disease, but the genetics are not well understood.

Glaucoma
Patients with genetic risk for different glaucoma subtypes had an associated risk for different visual field defects, according to a study.
Image: Adobe Stock

Sekimitsu and colleagues performed archetypal analysis on 263,707 visual fields from 34,331 patients to identify the visual field archetypes associated with genetic risk for POAG and its subtypes, high-tension glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma.

The data were used to group the visual field archetypes into nine defect classes. Group five was the normal class, groups two, three six and nine were the peripheral class, group eight was the generalized class, and groups four and seven were the paracentral class.

The majority of the visual fields identified in the analysis were classified as normal.

The researchers used data from the Mass General Brigham Biobank to analyze polygenic risk score (PRS) for POAG and normal-tension glaucoma as well as genetic risk score for high-tension glaucoma. The sample size for individuals with both visual field and available genotype data was 719 patients.

Higher POAG PRS was associated with peripheral visual field defects, higher normal-tension glaucoma PRS was associated paracentral visual field defects, and higher high-tension glaucoma genetic risk score was associated with generalized visual field defects.

“We hope that these results may contribute to a better understanding how glaucoma subtypes genetic risk may affect more functional forms of glaucoma,” Sekimitsu said.