Association between chronic kidney disease and open-angle glaucoma in South Korea: a 12-year nationwide retrospective cohort study

Various non-intraocular pressure factors have been identified as possible risk factors for open-angle glaucoma (OAG). However, there is still controversy around the association between OAG and chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this study, we used a nationwide cohort to investigate the risk of OAG in the 12 years following a diagnosis of CKD. This retrospective cohort study included 1,103,302 subjects from the Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort database. The CKD group (n = 1318) included patients who were initially diagnosed with CKD between 2003 and 2008. The subjects in the comparison group were matched at a 1:5 ratio using propensity scores. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, a diagnosis of CKD was significantly associated with an increased incidence of OAG (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.546, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.363–1.754, p < 0.001). Further analysis revealed that the risk of OAG increased with the severity of CKD (mild to moderate CKD [CKD stage 1–3]: HR = 1.280, 95% CI 1.077–1.521, p = 0.005; advanced CKD [CKD stage 4–5]: HR = 1.861, 95% CI 1.589–2.180, p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis, female CKD patients had a greater risk of developing OAG than males, and subjects with CKD aged ≥ 40 years were more likely to develop OAG compared with those aged < 40 years. Our study demonstrates that CKD is a significant risk factor for OAG and that severe CKD is associated with an increased risk of developing OAG.