Compared to people with healthy sleep patterns, those who experienced daytime sleepiness were ten percent more likely to develop glaucoma.
Researchers have found that poor sleep quality may be associated with an increased risk of permanent vision loss (glaucoma). This was reported by EurekAlert!.
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness and is estimated to affect 112 million people worldwide by 2040, experts say. It is characterized by the gradual loss of light-sensitive cells in the eye and damage to the optic nerve. If left untreated, glaucoma can lead to permanent blindness.
So, to further study these issues, researchers set out to determine the risk of developing glaucoma in people with different sleep habits: insomnia, too much or too little sleep, different chronotypes (“owls” or “larks”); daytime sleepiness; snore
They used data from 409,053 UK Biobank participants, all of whom were between the ages of 40 and 69 when they were recruited. Their sleep duration was defined as normal (seven to less than nine hours per night) and too little or too much, outside this range.
With an average follow-up period of just over 10.5 years, 8690 cases of glaucoma were identified.
People with glaucoma tend to be older, more likely to be male, smoke, have high blood pressure or diabetes than those who have not been diagnosed with the disease.
Besides chronotype, four other sleep/behavioral patterns are associated with varying degrees of increased risk of developing glaucoma:
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short or long sleep is associated with an 8% higher risk;
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insomnia – by 12%;
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snoring – by 4%;
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frequent daytime sleepiness (20%).
Earlier it was reported that scientists from the University of Utah in the United States revived the eyes of a dead organ donor.
Scientists have created an implant that restores sight to the blind
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Source: korrespondent
