Photo Credit: Nemes Laszlo

Elevated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is associated with an increased risk for glaucoma, while elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG) are associated with a reduced risk, according to a study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. The prospective cohort study involved 400,229 participants from the UK Biobank. The researchers found that 1.72% of participants developed glaucoma during a mean follow-up of 14.44 years. Higher levels of HDL-C were associated with increased glaucoma risk (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.08; P=0.001 for one standard-deviation increase in HDL-C) in multivariate Cox regression, while reduced risk was associated with elevated levels of LDL-C (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99; P=0.005), TC (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.94-1.00; P=0.037), and TG (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99; P=0.008). An analysis of associations between the polygenic risk score of serum lipids and glaucoma showed an increased HR in association with a one-standard-deviation increment of HDL-C genetic risk (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.00-1.11; P=0.031). There were no significant associations between glaucoma and polygenic risk scores of LDL-C, TC, and TG.