Air Pollution & Glaucoma
The chances of developing glaucoma were six percent greater among people living in neighborhoods with higher amounts of fine particulate matter in the air. These new findings were based on eye tests performed among 111,370 participants in a UK study between 2006 and 2010. All were asked if they had glaucoma and were tested to determine if they did. The results were then correlated with measurements of air pollution at their home addresses. Glaucoma affects more than 60 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. “Given that…the UK (has) relatively low particulate matter pollution on the global scale, glaucoma may be even more strongly impacted by air pollution elsewhere in the world. And as we did not include indoor air pollution and workplace exposure in our analysis, the real effect may be even greater,” said study leader Paul Foster of the UK’s University College London Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Source:
Paul J. Foster et al, “The Relationship Between Ambient Atmospheric Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Glaucoma in a Large Community Cohort,” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, November 2019, doi: doi.org/10.1167/iovs.19-28346
More from this week’s bulletin:
- Ultra-Processed Foods & Your Heart
- Olive Oil For Your Brain
- This week’s healthful soup recipe: Immunity Soup
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