Maintenance of ideal body weight is vital for averting several ailments and according to a novel Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary or MEEI research finding, in case of POAG or primary open-angle glaucoma, one of the prevalent aging-linked eye conditions, the representation might be more multifarious.
A large-scaled cohort MEEI trial, carried out spanning over two decades, noted that increased body weight (particularly, BMI or body mass index) is not linked to greater risk for primary open-angle glaucoma. Factually, the study has shown that among females, higher body mass index is notably associated with lowered risk for a variation of primary open-angle glaucoma called as normal tension glaucoma or NTG.
Helming the trial, Doctor Louis Pasquale stated that physicians as well as patients must be wary regarding such study outcomes till additional studies offer corroboration and clarify the associated biological processes.
Glaucoma is a multifaceted disease that has the potential to blind a person by harming the optic nerve. Primary open-angle glaucoma is the most prevalent form of glaucoma. Increased eye pressure or IOP or intraocular pressure has been stoutly associated with harm to the optic nerve. Effectual therapies for controlling IOP are obtainable for helping people with glaucoma to safeguard their finest achievable eyesight. However in individuals having normal tension glaucoma, harm to the optic nerve arises despite no rise in IOP, as described by suitable standards. Diagnosis and treatment of normal tension glaucoma continues to present significant challenge to eye doctors as well as patients.
According to Doctor Pasquale, comprehending the processes which are driving body mass index as well as several body constitution factors in connection with primary open-angle glaucoma could assist researchers in solving several obscurities related to this intricate disease.
Pasquale further added that it is rational to conjecture that hormonally-controllable factors produced by fatty or lean tissue types might be altering the risk for normal tension glaucoma among females. Higher body mass index among women in their post-menopause phase are associated to increased levels of estrogen that may favourably impact estrogen receptors present in the eye’s optic nerve.
BMI or body mass index is the fat content in the body in connection with the muscles, fluids, bones and other non-adipose tissue that constitute lean body mass tissue types. A higher BMI is indicative that the individual’s body has greater adipose presence than the regular standard for his/her age.
The 78777 trial entrants were part of the Nurses Health Study that spanned 1980-2004 and 41352 males registered as part of the Health Professional Follow-up Trial spanning 1982-2004. Among females, every part rise in body mass index was linked to a 6% lowering in risk for normal tension glaucoma (described as intraocular pressure = or <21 mmHg during the instant primary open-angle glaucoma was diagnosed). Moreover, among females with higher body mass index in their younger adulthood years were linked to lowered risk for normal tension glaucoma. Among males, body mass index was not linked to primary open-angle glaucoma. Since the race of majority of the study entrants was Europeanise-White, the trial’s inferences might be restricted to analogous patient populaces.
Doctor Pasquale indicated that in case the link between primary open-angle glaucoma and body mass index and associated body composition aspects could be elucidated in imminent trials, novel therapies may be created for POAG sufferers, especially those with NTG variation of the condition.
