A recent study examined the influence of body mass index and the history of tobacco and alcohol use on the rates of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) change over time in patients with glaucoma.

Asmaa A. Youssif and other researchers from the Duke Eye Center in Durham, North Carolina, the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, and the Assist University department of ophthalmology in Egypt analyzed data from 2,839 eyes of 1,584 glaucoma patients over an average follow-up of 4.7 years. Each patient underwent multiple spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) tests. Findings revealed that higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with a protective effect against glaucoma progression, showing a decrease in RNFL loss rate by 0.014 µm/year per unit increase in BMI (P=.011). Conversely, underweight individuals exhibited significantly faster rates of structural loss (-0.768 µm/year; P=.002) compared to those with normal weight.

Tobacco and alcohol consumption did not demonstrate a significant impact on RNFL change rates (P=.473 and P=.471, respectively). These results underscore the complex interplay between social habits and glaucoma progression, suggesting potential avenues for further investigation into BMI's protective role in glaucoma management.

The study was published in April in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.