Glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease: an 8-year population-based follow-up study

• Published in: PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (9), p.e108938-e108938
• Main Authors: Lin, I-Chan, Wang, Yuan-Hung, Wang, Tsung-Jen, Wang, I-Jong, Shen, Yun-Dun, Shen, Yun-Den, Chi, Nai-Fang, Chien, Li-Nien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - epidemiology; Alzheimer Disease - etiology; Alzheimer's disease; Analysis; Blindness; Cohort Studies; Comorbidity; Confidence intervals; Datasets; Dementia; Demography; Diabetes; Epidemiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Geriatrics; Glaucoma; Glaucoma, Open-Angle - complications; Glaucoma, Open-Angle - epidemiology; Health insurance; Health risks; Hospitals; Humans; Incidence; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Movement disorders; Neurodegenerative diseases; Older people; Optic nerve; Parkinson Disease - epidemiology; Parkinson Disease - etiology; Parkinson's disease; Patients; Population; Population studies; Population-based studies; Public health; Risk; Socioeconomic factors; Statistics; Studies; Taiwan - epidemiology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108938

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the most common type of glaucoma. An association between POAG and the subsequent risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) was unclear. To investigate the association between POAG (including normal-tension glaucoma) and the subsequent risk of AD or PD 8 years following a diagnosis of POAG. We performed a retrospective, propensity-score-matched analysis of a population-based cohort consisting of patients with and without POAG aged 60 years and older. Control patients without POAG were propensity-score matched to POAG patients based on their baseline characteristics. The incidence rates and confidence intervals (CIs) of AD among the patients with and without POAG were 2.85 (95% CI: 2.19-3.70) and 1.98 (95% CI: 1.68-2.31) per 1000 person-years, respectively. The incidence rates of PD among the POAG and non-POAG cohorts were 4.36 (95% CI: 3.52-5.39) and 4.37 (95% CI: 3.92-4.86) per 1000 person-years, respectively. Kaplan-Meier failure curves showed that the POAG patients had a higher risk of AD than the control patients did (log-rank test, P= .0189). However, the cumulative PD hazard ratios for the POAG and non-POAG patients did not differ significantly (log-rank test, P= .9953). In elderly patients, POAG is a significant predictor of AD, but POAG is not a predictor of PD.