Abstract
Purpose :
To examine associations between statin use and glaucoma in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) population.
Methods :
The study population included adult participants of the 2005-2008 NHANES. Statin use was analyzed as a binary variable, with participants classified as either taking or not taking statins at the time of the survey. Glaucoma was defined according to the Wilmer criteria, where a positive glaucoma diagnosis was marked by the “definite” presence of glaucoma in at least one eye according to disc photos graded by ophthalmologists. Covariates included age, sex, ethnicity, level of education, income, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, steroid intake, and history of diabetes mellitus, cataract extraction, macular degeneration, and myocardial infarction. Logistic regression modeling was used to examine the associations between statin use and glaucoma in the study population. Models were unadjusted, partially adjusted for age, sex, and ethnicity, and fully adjusted for all study covariates. Analyses were weighted using NHANES multistage sampling design.
Results :
The study population included 5489 participants, representing a weighted US population of 111,882,981, of whom 620,169 (0.6%) had glaucoma. In the unadjusted model, statin use showed a statistically significant association with increased odds of glaucoma (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.52, 4.45), but this was no longer statistically significant in the partially (partially adjusted OR = 1.23, 95% CI= 0.67, 2.26) and fully adjusted (fully adjusted OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.40, 2.53) models.
Conclusions :
In the 2005-2008 NHANES population, statin use was associated with an increased odds of glaucoma in unadjusted but not in adjusted models. Further investigation is needed into potential associations between hyperlipidemia, its treatment, and risk of glaucoma in the general population.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.