Blood Pressure Measures and Incident Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma

PURPOSE: To investigate the association of systemic blood pressure and incident primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) using a large open-access database. METHODS: Prospective cohort study included 484,268 participants from the UK Biobank without glaucoma at enrollment. Incident POAG events were recorded through assessment visits, hospital inpatient admissions, and primary care data. Blood pressure measures included systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP). Repeated measurements throughout the study period were analyzed as time-varying covariables. The parameters were modeled as both categorical and continuous nonlinear variables. The primary outcome measure was the relative hazard of incident POAG. RESULTS: There were 2390 incident POAG events over 5,715,480 person-years of follow-up. Median follow-up was 12.08 years. In multivariable analyses, compared to SBP and PP in the normal range (SBP, 120–130 mmHg; PP, 40–50 mmHg), higher SBP and PP were associated with an increased risk of incident POAG (linear trend P = 0.038 for SBP, P < 0.001 for PP). Specifically, SBP of 130 to 140 mmHg or 140 to 150 mmHg was associated with a 1.16 higher hazard of incident POAG (95% CI, 1.01–1.32 and 1.01–1.33, respectively), whereas a PP of greater than 70 mmHg was associated with a 1.13 higher hazard of incident glaucoma (95% CI, 1.00–1.29). In multivariable models, no statistically significant associations were found for DBP or MAP with incident glaucoma. These findings were similar when blood pressure measures were modeled as continuous variables. CONCLUSIONS: Higher SBP and PP were associated with an increased risk of incident POAG. Further studies are required to characterize these relationships better.