Association between obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome and normal tension glaucoma

Abstract Background and objective To study the prevalence of glaucoma among a group of patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome and to test the hypothesis that OSAS should be considered as a significant risk factor for normal tension glaucoma (NTG). Subjects and methods The study included forty subjects recently confirmed to have OSA and fifteen obese subjects without OSAHS as control group. Control subjects were matched to patients regarding coexisting comorbid conditions. All patients were planned for full polysomnographic study, and a complete ophthalmologic examination within 48 h of the PSG. Results Glaucoma was diagnosed in fourteen (14) out of 40 patients with OSAHS yielding an estimate prevalence of 35% among patients with OSAHS compared to only one case of glaucoma in obese patients without OSAHS that is to say 6.7% with statistically significantly difference between the two groups ( χ 2  = 4.415, p  = 0.045). We found that mean ± SD CD ratio was statistically significantly higher in patients with OSAHS compared to controls without OSAHS as follows: 0.40 (0.20–0.80), and 0.30 (0.20–0.60) respectively ( Z  = 2.435 ∗ , p  = 0.015). Comparing subgroup of patients : with glaucoma ( n  = 14) to those without glaucoma ( n  = 26), statistically significantly higher CD ratio 0.70 (0.60–0.80) was noted in those with glaucoma compared to those without glaucoma 0.30 (0.20–0.40) ( Z  = 5.292 ∗ , p  = 0.001). Statistically a significantly positive correlation existed between CD ratio and AHI in patients with OSAHS with r  = 0.566 at p r  = 0.902, 0.638 respectively at p r  = 0.622 at p r  = 0.847, 0.678 respectively at p 2 during sleep in patients with OSAHS with r  = −0.561 at p