Association of Hypertriglyceridemia and Incident Glaucoma in a Rural Chinese Population: The Handan Eye Study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the association between baseline metabolic risk factors and incident glaucoma over a 5-year period in rural Chinese adults. METHODS: Population-based prospective cohort study. Participants aged 30 years and older without glaucoma at baseline who underwent comprehensive examinations at baseline and after a 5-year interval in the Handan Eye Study were enrolled. Incident glaucoma was defined as people without glaucoma in either eye at baseline that had developed glaucoma in at least one eye in the 5-year follow-up. Five metabolic syndrome components, mean blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides (TGs), low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and obesity, determined as body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2) at baseline were considered as potential metabolic risk factors for incident glaucoma. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to determine baseline metabolic risk factors associated with incident glaucoma. RESULTS: A total of 5184 participants were included in our study. During the 5-year follow-up, incident glaucoma developed in 82 subjects. Age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.060, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.034, 1.086, P < 0.001) and TGs level (OR = 1.213, 95% CI = 1.030, 1.429, P = 0.021) were independently and positively associated with incident glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that increased age and high TGs level, one of the baseline metabolic features, were independent risk factors for incident glaucoma. The data implied that the metabolic features be involved in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: This study shed the light on that the TGs level was involved in the pathogenesis of glaucoma.