Abstract
Purpose :
The relationship between lifestyle or food consumption and glaucoma incidence is controversial. We assessed the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and the risk of developing glaucoma in the SUN study.
Methods :
The "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) Project is a prospective cohort study, focused on nutrition, lifestyle and chronic diseases. Participants (n=18,247) initially free of glaucoma were followed prospectively for a mean of 10.8 years. The Healthy Lifestyle Score (HLS) included 9 habits (ranges 0 – 10 points): never having smoked, moderate to high physical activity (>20 MET-h/wk), Mediterranean diet (≥4/8 adherence points), moderate alcohol consumption (women, 0.1-5.0 g/d; men, 0.1-10.0 g/d), low television exposure (<2 h/d), no binge drinking (≤5 alcoholic drinks at anytime), taking a short afternoon nap (<30 min/d), meeting up with friends > 1 h/d, working at least 40 h/wk and low body mass index (≤22). The relationship between new cases of glaucoma and HLS was assessed by logistic regression using a hazard ratio.
Results :
During follow-up, we observed 260 (1.42%) new cases of glaucoma. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the highest category of HLS adherence (7-10 points) showed a significantly reduced risk of developing glaucoma compared to those in the lowest category (0-3 points) (adjusted HR=0.51, 95%CI=0.28-0.93). Never smoking was associated with low glaucoma incidence (adjusted HR=0.70, 95%CI=0.53-0.92).
Conclusions :
Higher adherence to a healthy lifestyle as measured by the HLS was associated with a lower risk of developing glaucoma.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.