Can Your Sleep Problems Lead to Glaucoma and Blindness

Disturbances in sleep may be associated with higher risk of permanent loss of vision due to glaucoma according to a 11-year study.

Highlights:

A recent study published in BMJ Open consisting of over 400,000 participants showed that insomnia, snoring, sleeping too much or too little may cause you to develop glaucoma in the long run
Quality of sleep associated with long term loss of vision//
Other factors like age, smoking, diabetes, depression, and low oxygen add to the morbidity

Poor quality of sleep can be associated with a condition which can cause irreversible loss of vision called glaucoma according to a study published recently in the BMJ Open ().

The large cohort study consisting of more than 400,000 participants found a link between poor sleep and an increased risk glaucoma leading to blindness. Increased risk was seen with factors like sleeping less than seven hours or longer than nine, insomnia, and snoring.

It also suggests that participants who developed glaucoma tend to be older, male, have smoked, and have high blood pressure or diabetes compared to those who did not have the disease.

Glaucoma - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Glaucoma is a group of disorders involving the optic nerve, often associated with a rise in intraocular pressure. Uncontrolled glaucoma can lead to blindness.

‘A recent study consisting of more than 400,000 participants show increased risk of glaucoma in patients with sleep problems like insomnia, decreased or increased sleep and snoring.’

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the eye called the optic nerve. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss and currently affects more than 70 million people worldwide. It is estimated that glaucoma will affect 111.8 million people by 2040 ().

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What are the Types of Glaucoma?

Primary glaucoma is glaucoma that is not caused by any known medical condition and secondary glaucoma is a condition where there is a medical cause to it.

Open-angle glaucoma: is the most common type glaucoma. It may be caused by pressure building up in your eye. If the fluid in your eye cannot drain fast enough, it creates pressure that pushes on the optic nerve in the back of your eye, affecting your vision slowly and eventually leads to blindness.

Normal-tension glaucoma: This is a less common type of open-angle glaucoma that happens in people with normal eye pressure.

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Participants of the Glaucoma Sleep Study?

People aged 40 – 69 years were recruited to the study between 2006 and 2010 and were followed up until March 2021 to see whether they had been diagnosed with glaucoma. Information on their sleep patterns was collected in the study. Normal sleep duration was defined as between 7 to 9 hours, with values above or below being classified as outside this range. The person’s chronotype was evaluated according to whether they described themselves as more of a morning lark or night owl.

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What did they Find Out in the 11-year Follow Up of the Glaucoma Sleep Study ?

A total of 8,690 cases of glaucoma were identified.

When compared with people who had a healthy sleep pattern, snoring and daytime sleepiness, which are some classical symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) carried an increased risk of glaucoma. Several other studies have also linked OSA with subsequent increased risk of glaucoma ().

Meanwhile, insomnia and sleeping too much or too little was linked to a 13% increased risk.

The researchers acknowledge that the study was observational which is why a cause is yet to be established. It also relied on self-reporting by the participants rather than objective measurement. It can also be said that glaucoma could be the reason for their sleep patterns as well.

However, there could be a few biological explanations for the same. One of them could be the internal pressure of the eye which is an important factor in the development of glaucoma, rises when a person is lying down and when sleep hormones like melatonin are disturbed, as seen in insomnia.

What About Other Factors that can Lead to Glaucoma ?

Depression and anxiety often associated with insomnia could also increase the internal eye pressure (). As suggested by experts, episodes of low levels of cellular oxygen, caused by sudden stopping of breathing during sleep may also cause direct damage to the optic nerve.

How can I Help Myself?

As these sleep behaviors can be modified, it is important to underscore the necessity of sleep intervention for people at high risk of glaucoma and potential eye screening among individuals with chronic sleep problems to help prevent and diagnose glaucoma early before it leads to loss of vision.

References:

Association of sleep behaviour and pattern with the risk of glaucoma: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank - (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/11/e063676)
Global prevalence of glaucoma and projections of glaucoma burden through 2040: a systematic review and meta-analysis - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24974815/)
Normal tension glaucoma in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20852436/)
Can Psychologic Stress Elevate Intraocular Pressure in Healthy Individuals? - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32768362/)

Source-Medindia