Underweight, but not obesity, linked to glaucoma progression
Key Takeaways
- A higher body mass index (BMI) was significantly associated with slower rates of glaucoma progression.
- People who are underweight had significantly faster rates of glaucoma progression.
Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are nerve cells that process visual information that begins as light entering the eye and transmit it to the brain via their axons, which are long fibers that make up the optic nerve. RGCs are damaged by glaucoma and examining the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), a retinal layer that contains RGC axons, is the current standard for detecting structural damage in glaucoma patients.
A recent study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology found that a higher body mass index (BMI) was significantly associated with slower rates of retinal nerve fiber layer change among patients with glaucoma, while those with underweight had significantly faster rates of structural loss. In other findings, the researchers found that there were no significant associations between tobacco and alcohol use and glaucoma progression.
Victoria Tseng, MD, PhD, of the University of California Los Angeles, who wasn’t involved with the study, told MedPage Today that the finding that links underweight to more progression appears to be the most significant. However, “the magnitude of change is not large,” she said. “Based on the findings, if someone were to gain enough weight to be classified as normal weight rather than underweight, it would take several years for this to produce a clinically significant difference in the risk of glaucoma.”
The researchers suggest that a low BMI may be a sign of poor health in some cases. “It is possible that severely underweight subjects included in our study may have had a higher prevalence of serious coexisting systemic disorders that led to severe weight loss and could also affect risk of glaucoma deterioration.”
Edited by Miriam Kaplan, PhD
Source: Randy Dotinga, MedPage Today, April 22, 2024; see source article