Thyroid disease is a risk factor for glaucoma
29 November 2002
Thyroid disease is an independent risk factor for glaucoma, new information from the Blue Mountains Eye Study suggests.
'Thyroid disease needs to be added to risk factors which increase the need for people to be considered suspects for glaucoma as they get older,' said Professor Paul Mitchell, from the University of Sydney's department of ophthalmology at Westmead Hospital.
The study showed that thyroxine use or past thyroid surgery doubled the risk for glaucoma in the population aged 50 years and over, Professor Mitchell said. This risk was of a similar magnitude to having diabetes, he added.
Some 9 per cent of the 3600-plus people studied had a history of thyroid disease, with 4 per cent using thyroxine and 2.5 per cent reporting past thyroid surgery, he told the 34th annual scientific congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists in Sydney recently.
The researchers could not say if the type of thyroid disease at diagnosis was important in determining risk.
Last Reviewed: 02 December 2002
- 1. Medical Observer Weekly 29/11/02
