Obesity Reduces Women's Risk of Developing Chronic Eye Disease

Obese women have reduced risk of developing the eye disease, open-angle glaucoma, according to a new study.

"Open-angle glaucoma is a chronic eye disease characterized by glaucomatous optic neuropathy and corresponding glaucomatous visual field loss," the authors said.

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Wishal D. Ramdas, of the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues examined data from 3,939 participants in the Rotterdam Study.

This population-based study included participants 55 years of age and older living in a suburb of Rotterdam, who did not have open-angle glaucoma when the study began between 1991 and 1993.

Over an average of 9.7 years of follow-up, 108 participants developed open-angle glaucoma. Those who developed the condition were significantly older; more often had high myopia (severe nearsightedness) and were more often male, compared with those who did not.

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No statistically significant effect of socioeconomic status, smoking or alcohol intake was found on the development of open-angle glaucoma.

Among women, there was a significant association between increased body mass index and intraocular pressure.

Glaucoma - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Glaucoma is a group of disorders involving the optic nerve, often associated with a rise in intraocular pressure. Uncontrolled glaucoma can lead to blindness.

However, each one-unit increase in body mass index was associated with a 7 percent decreased risk of developing open-angle glaucoma. These associations were not present in men.

The study was published online today and will appear in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Source-ANI