Diabetes may be risk factor for glaucoma

TAMPA, Fla. – Diabetes may be synergistic with other risk factors for glaucoma, according to a study presented here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting.

“It is important to understand the relationship between these two conditions so we can become more effective in managing them,” said Lisa M. Modesto, OD, who co-authored the study with her colleague, Leon Nehman, OD, FAAO.

Drs. Modesto and Nehman looked at a number of epidemiological, laboratory-based and clinical imaging studies to draw their conclusions. The four epidemiological studies they used were the Baltimore Eye Study, the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, the Blue Mountain Study and Beaver Dam Study, all of which had discordant results about the relationship between diabetes mellitus and primary open-angle glaucoma.

“Risk factors have been developed, including elevated IOP, central corneal thickness, age, race, myopia and a family history,” Dr. Modesto said. “IOP is the only factor that can be manipulated. If diabetes is a risk factor, it may also be manipulated.”

Dr. Nehman said during an interview with Primary Care Optometry News after the report that the research is important because many clinicians encounter both diseases in practice quite often. “Diabetics have retinal defects that may be synergistic with IOP,” he said, adding that changes found in diabetics are in the nerve fiber layer and glial cells.

“We have to be more careful assessing diabetics for the possibility of glaucoma,” he concluded.