Canada studies glaucoma

A Canadian study first identified a range of factors that help prevent glaucoma, an eye disease that attacks nearly 67 million people worldwide.

The study was led by Dr. Balwantray Chauhan of Dalhousie University. Glaucoma is caused by increased pressure in the eye, fluid is stagnated in the eye, causing damage to nerve cells. The disease usually develops slowly and silently, causing many people to not or if they get sick, so they are blind forever.

Researchers note that women are twice as likely to be infected as men, and this risk increases with age. They also found that patients with anticardiolipine antibodies (aCL) were associated with thrombosis or autoimmune disease at four times the risk of developing the disease.

Researchers have eliminated many of the previously considered high-risk factors. They claim that patients with diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease do not have a higher risk of developing glaucoma than others.

Finally, the researchers concluded that the more diagnosed glaucoma is, the higher the risk of blindness. They recommend that people who are suspicious of the disease should immediately seek medical attention.

The study relied on data collected at 258 patients between 1994 and 2005 at hospitals linked to McGill, Montreal, Dalhousie, British-Colombia and Toronto universities.