Correlation Between Primary Open Angle Glaucoma And Cardiovascular Diseases And Its Risk Factors

Abstract

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is one of the most prevalent causes of irreversible blindness, and is considered as a group of ocular diseases characterized by progressive thinning of the neuroretinal rim of the optic nerve head and loss of the retinal nerve fiber layer. (Kuvin et al., 2001). The etiology of open angle glaucoma is almost certainly multifactorial, and there are numerous potential risk factors for development of this type of glaucoma, cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in particular has been identified as a potential risk factor for the development of the POAG (Broadway and Drance, 1998). A large number of recent studies have demonstrated that GON has a high association with systemic cardiovascular disease, systemic arteriosclerosis and sclerotic changes in the ocular vessels, and in the internal carotid artery (Brown et al., 2002; Lyons et al., 2002 and Leske et al., 2007).