Risk Factors for Glaucoma: A Hospital-based Case-control study

Background: Glaucoma is a diverse group of eye diseases with a multifactorial etiology characterized by an acquired loss of retinal ganglion cells, progressive optic neuropathy with morphological abnormalities in optic nerve head, and visual field defect, in which raised intraocular pressure is a major and one of the modifiable risk factor and other risk factors includes age, gender, race, family history, systemic diseases, sociodemographic profile, etc. Glaucoma is a major public health problem, causing visual impairment which hampers day-to-day work. Aims & Objective: 1. To study various risk factors For Glaucoma among patients attending OPD/IPD of RIO, GMCH. 2. To assess various socio-demographic, modifiable lifestyle-associated factors and other ocular diseases related to Glaucoma. Materials and Methods: In this hospital-based case-control study, considering p=10%, the sample size was calculated to be 570. Out of which 285 Cases and 285 Controls were selected from OPD/IPD of RIO, GMCH in a ratio of 1:1 after adjusting for age and sex. Verbal/written consent was taken followed by a detailed history was documented through a standardized predesigned and pretested proforma. Results: All the data were analyzed and statistical significance was determined using SPSS software. A high prevalence of glaucoma was seen among males and most of the glaucoma cases belong to age 50-59 years. Statistically, a significant association was seen between age and Glaucoma but an insignificant association was seen with Gender. A high level of IOP (OR: 96.08, CI: 40.565-123.10 p-value: <0.0001), history of smoking (OR:1.515, CI:1.086- 2.113, p-Value-0.0181), history of alcohol use (OR:1.514, CI:1.072-2.139, p- Value:0.0230), history of use of steroid (OR:1.604, CI:1.123- 2.291, p-Value:0.0118), History of Myopia (OR:1.711, CI:1.228- 2.385, p-Value:0.0019), History of Diabetes Mellitus (OR:1.472, CI:1.048-2.066, p-Value:0.0315), history of Hypertension (OR:1.463, CI:1.051-2.034, p-Value:0.0294) showed statistically Significant association with Glaucoma. Whereas, other factors failed to show statistically significant association with Glaucoma. Conclusion: In this study, various factors like smoking, alcohol use, and steroid use, high BP, high blood sugar, and some ocular factors (high IOP, Myopia) were found to be related to risk for Glaucoma. The mechanisms by which these factors lead to an increased risk of Glaucoma are still poorly understood, further study is needed to understand the significance of these as well as other factors as a risk for developing Glaucoma.