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Vitamins A and B may be related to a low prevalence of glaucoma, according to research published in the Journal Français d’Ophtalmologie.
Researchers conducted a meta analysis on the effects of vitamins A, B, C, D, and E on glaucoma prevalence for individuals older than 40 years. An initial internet search of PubMed, EMbase, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Database, Clinicaltrial.gov, and Google Scholar databases for publications indexed through September 18, 2021 yielded 2975 studies. Once researchers applied all exclusion criteria, 8 studies remained for analysis.
Of the 8 studies, 7 reported an association between vitamin A and glaucoma. Researchers included 141,988 participants in the study (1776 with glaucoma). Among the studies included, 1 enrolled individuals aged 55 or older (n=3502), 2 enrolled participants older than 65 (n=1739), and 1 recruited participants with a mean age of 61.8±0.6 (n=581). In total, 4 of the 7 studies revealed a significant association between vitamin A and glaucoma, and final analysis indicated a protective effect of the vitamin (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.53 to 0.56, P <.00001).
The vitamin B analysis involved data from 5 studies (n=142,212, 1457 patients with glaucoma). While investigators were able to establish an overall relationship between vitamin B and glaucoma prevalence (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.64 to 0.80, P <.001), they noted different correlation measurements after subdividing vitamin B into B1, B2, B3, B6, and B12 (OR=0.73, CI: 0.58 to 0.92, P =.008; OR=0.60, CI: 0.47 to 0.76, P <.001; OR=0.61, CI: 0.47 to 0.69, P =.001; OR=0.81, CI: 0.56 to 1.18, P =.27; OR=0.96, CI: 0.72 to 1.29, P =.80, respectively, 95% confidence levels for all CI).
Researchers were unable to establish a link between vitamins C, D, and E and glaucoma prevalence (OR=0.69, CI: 0.48 to 1.01, P =.05; OR=0.90, CI: 0.45 to 1.83, P =.78; OR=0.91, CI: 0.71 to 1.16, P =.46, respectively, 95% confidence levels for all CI) after conducting substudies of each vitamin (n=22,011, 1058 with glaucoma; n=584, 77 with glaucoma; n=244,254, 1262 with glaucoma, respectively).
“The intake of high-dose vitamins A and B, but not vitamins C, D, and E, was related to a low prevalence of glaucoma,” according to the researchers. The investigators recommend guiding patients with early glaucoma to add vitamin-rich foods or vitamin supplements to their diets.
Study limitations include the lack of a formal definition for high and low intake with respect to vitamin consumption and reliance on self-reporting for outcome measures.
Reference
Han FF, Fu XX. Vitamin intake and glaucoma risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.J Fr Ophthalmol. Published online February 1, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.jfo.2021.10.010
