A recent study conducted as part of the National Institutes of Health All of Us research program found that participants who later developed glaucoma had significantly higher levels of chronic stress, as measured by allostatic load (AL), than those without the disease. AL, an established framework for quantifying the physiological impact of chronic stress, was measured through 10 biomarkers, including blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation markers. Notably, each point increase in AL score was associated with an 11% higher risk of developing primary open-angle glaucoma.

The retrospective case-control study examined 349 individuals with glaucoma and 1,819 without, with participants being assessed on average 6.4 years prior to their glaucoma diagnosis. Racial and ethnic differences in AL scores were found to partially mediate the higher risk of glaucoma among Black and Hispanic individuals. Specifically, AL mediated 7.5% of the increased risk for Blacks and 5.0% for Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic Whites. These findings suggest that chronic stress could be a contributing factor to both the development of glaucoma and the racial disparities observed in glaucoma prevalence.

The data was published in the September issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.