Risk of glaucoma increases with diabetes, study supports

Boston-It appears that diabetic retinopathy is not the only eye disease associated with diabetes, according to a study, which found that women with diabetes have about a 70% increased risk of developing the most common form of glaucoma-primary-open angle glaucoma-compared with women without diabetes.

"The study supports the notion that type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma," said study lead author Louis Pasquale, MD, co-director of the glaucoma service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

A link between diabetes and glaucoma has not been proven conclusively, according to the study. Another study failed to find a link between diabetes and glaucoma in a trial that included almost 4,000 people from the Netherlands.

Pasquale's study was larger, including more than 76,000 women enrolled in the 20 -year-long Nurses? Health Study. The available evidence is enough for the American Diabetes Association to conclude that the risk of glaucoma increases in people with diabetes.