Consumption of caffeinated coffee is associated with an increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma, the leading cause of secondary glaucoma worldwide, according to a new study led by Dr Louis Pasquale of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The study, published in the September issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, is the first to examine the link between caffeinated coffee and exfoliation glaucoma in a US-based population.
“Scandinavian populations have the highest frequencies of exfoliation syndrome and glaucoma,” said Dr Jae Hee Kang of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, senior author of the study.
“Because Scandinavian populations also have the highest consumption of caffeinated coffee in the world, and our research group has previously found that greater caffeinated coffee intake was associated with increased risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, we conducted this study to evaluate whether the risk of exfoliation glaucoma or glaucoma suspect may be different by coffee consumption.”
The research was composed of two groups of participants: 78,977 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 41,202 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) who were at least 40 years of age, did not have glaucoma and reported undergoing eye examinations from 1980 to 2008 for NHS participants and from 1986 to 2008 for HPFS participants.
The team used questionnaires to obtain and validate the consumption of beverages containing caffeine and reviewed medical records to determine incident cases of exfoliation glaucoma, which contributes to elevated pressure sufficient enough to damage the optic nerve, or exfoliation glaucoma suspect that have milder or only suspect optic nerve damage.
A meta-analysis of the two groups showed that, compared to abstainers, participants who drank three cups or more of caffeinated coffee daily were at an increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma or glaucoma suspect. The researchers did not find associations with consumption of other caffeinated products, such as soda, tea, chocolate or decaffeinated coffee. The results also showed that women with a family history of glaucoma were at an increased risk.
“Because this is the first study to evaluate the association between caffeinated coffee and exfoliation glaucoma in a US population, confirmation of these results in other populations would be needed to lend more credence to the possibility that caffeinated coffee might be a modifiable risk factor for glaucoma. It may also lead to research into other dietary or lifestyle factors as risk factors,” Dr Kang said.
According to the team, this study represents a much needed effort to better understand the causes of exfoliation glaucoma, which are largely unknown.
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Bibliographic information: Louis R. Pasquale et al. The Relationship between Caffeine and Coffee Consumption and Exfoliation Glaucoma or Glaucoma Suspect: A Prospective Study in Two Cohorts. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., vol. 53, no. 10, 6427-6433; doi: 10.1167/iovs.12-10085
