Respiratory Comorbidities. Looking Ahead to New Glaucoma Risk Factors

AbstractPurpose: Open‐Angle glaucoma (OAG) continues being the first cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Recent advances in biotechnology did not cover all needs for avoiding glaucoma neurodegeneration (GND) and its high socioeconomic burden. Revisiting OAG risk factors, (including respiratory comorbidities), is mandatory to optimize OAG managing.Methods: A total of 412 participants were recruited in a prospective nationwide study (Spain and Portugal) according to strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, and classified into: OAG patients (n = 214) and ocular hypertension (OHT) subjects (n = 198). Sociodemographic, personal characteristics/lifestyle, and comorbid respiratory disorders were recorded. Among the latter asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonar disease (COPD) and sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (SAHS). Statistical processing was done by RStatistics v4.1.2 and RStudio v2021.09.1.Results: Mean age and gender distribution were: 62 years and 49% men (OAG group) and 61 years and 61% men (HTO group). Univariant analysis reflected that smoking and COPD (p < 0.001) were significantly different between groups. Logistic regression of all variables showed that asthma (p = 0.003) and COPD (p = 0.035) were the most statistically significant characteristics between groups. When eliminating the outlier variables, the logistic regression displayed that asthma (p = 0.002) and COPD (p = 0.05) were the most discriminative parameters between groups. The SAHS did not show statistical significance.Conclusions: Data from this population strongly indicated that in addition to traditional OAG risk factors, asthma, COPD, and smoking habit can be considered detrimental to the OAG course.