Abstract
Purpose::
Past research has shown that fat-free diets were related to reductions in intraocular pressure. We evaluated the relationship between the presence of glaucoma and the intake of different types of fats obtained from food among participants in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF).
Methods::
In a random sample of 1,155 (out of 5,482) women (1,011 white and 144 black) ages 65 and older, glaucoma specialists diagnosed glaucoma by assessing optic nerve head photographs and 76-pointsuprathreshold screening visual fields. Intake of fats from food was calculated based on responses to the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire. In this cross-sectional analysis, we investigated the relationship between the presence of glaucoma and different types of dietary fats using logistic regression models.
Results::
Among 1,155 women, 8.3% (96) were diagnosed with glaucoma in at least one eye. After adjusting for potential confounders including study site, age, race, smoking status, alcohol consumption, body mass index (BMI), education, walks for exercise, self-rated health status, and the presence of diabetes, hypertension, and age-related macular degeneration, there was no relationship between the presence of glaucoma and major fats in the diet comparing the highest quartile with the lowest quartile, including total fat (odds ratio [OR]=0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.37-2.00), total cholesterol (OR=1.11, 95% CI=0.61-2.01), and saturated fat (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.49-1.84). We found no associations when examining fat subtypes from food, including intakes of total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (OR=0.73, 95% CI=0.28-1.90), total n-6 PUFA (OR=0.88, 95% CI=0.43-1.88), ratio of n-3 to n-6 PUFA (OR=1.10, 95% CI=0.55-2.19), linoleic acid (18:2) (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.42-1.75), linolenic acid (18:3) (OR=1.11, 95% CI=0.56-2.21), and arachidonic acid (20:4) (OR=1.16, 95% CI=0.62-2.18).
Conclusions::
Fats as part of daily food intake were not associated with the presence of glaucoma. These findings confirm the results of the Nurses’ Health and the Health Professionals Follow-up Studies, the only other studies that examined similar associations.
Keywords: nutritional factors