January 18, 2017
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Study questions link between glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease

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KOLOA, Hawaii — Recent findings presented here found comparable cognitive functioning between individuals with glaucoma and healthy controls, suggesting glaucoma is not associated with cognition in Alzheimer’s disease.

“Is there a link between glaucoma and dementia? They’re both neurodegenerative, chronic and progressive diseases that involve irreversible loss of selective populations of neurons. They’re age-related disorders and are major public health concerns as the population ages. But is glaucoma a brain disease?” Yvonne Ou, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, said at Hawaiian Eye 2017.

Current research has indicated conflicting results regarding associations between glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

To clarify these associations, Ou and colleagues conducted a prospective, cross-sectional cohort study among 50 individuals with normal tension glaucoma and 51 healthy individuals. Neurocognition and executive function were assessed via the Examiner battery and the California Verbal Learning Test.

One assessment asked study participants to count the number of blue circles displayed on a screen and remember that number. Assessments became more challenging as time progressed.

Researchers found no difference in executive function composite scores between participants with normal tension glaucoma and those without.

Further, glaucoma severity was not associated with executive function.

“This is a very exciting area of research for clinicians who hope to identify progression in Alzheimer’s using the retina as an ocular biomarker,” Ou said. “However, normal tension glaucoma patients did not have worse cognitive function in our study. There may be shared underlying pathologic mechanisms connecting the two diseases but I think more research needs to be done to really define this link.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Ou Y. Is there a link between glaucoma and dementia? Presented at: Hawaiian Eye; Jan. 14-20, 2017; Koloa, Hawaii.

Disclosure: Ou reports no relevant financial disclosures.