The disease is a leading cause of blindness and is expected to affect around 112 million people worldwide by 2040. The researchers studied 409,053 people from the UK Biobank, all between the ages of 40 and 69 when the researchers recruited them between 2006 and 2010. The information they used is of course the people’s sleep patterns, age, sex, lifestyle, weight, ethnicity, education and where they lived. After following the participants for just over 10.5 years, the team identified 8,690 cases of glaucoma.
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Those with glaucoma tended to be older and more often male. They were also more likely to be smokers and have high blood pressure or diabetes than those who did not develop the disease. The study found that short or long sleep, insomnia, snoring and frequent daytime sleepiness increased the chance of having the disease.