Glaucoma may be a non-memory manifestation of Alzheimer's disease in older people.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether glaucoma could be a non-memory manifestation of Alzheimer's disease in older people.

METHODS

We conducted a population-based, retrospective, case-control study to analyze the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 1,351 subjects ≥65 years old with newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease as the cases, and 5,329 subjects without any type of dementias as the controls during 2000-2011. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of Alzheimer's disease associated with glaucoma was estimated by the multivariable unconditional logistic regression model.

RESULTS

After controlling for confounders, the multivariable logistic regression model demonstrated that the adjusted OR of Alzheimer's disease was 1.50 in subjects with glaucoma (95% CI 1.19, 1.89), compared to subjects without glaucoma.

CONCLUSIONS

Older people with glaucoma are associated with 1.5-fold increased odds of Alzheimer's disease in Taiwan. Glaucoma may be a non-memory manifestation of Alzheimer's disease in older people. Further research is needed to confirm this issue.