Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and glaucoma are major global health challenges. However, the probable association between them is yet to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the association between OSA and glaucoma.
Methods Data for this cross-sectional study were obtained from the eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2019–2021). From among 9,495 individuals who completed the STOP-Bang questionnaire on OSA (for those aged ≥40 years) and provided their glaucoma prevalence/intraocular pressure (IOP) data, 8,741 were selected for glaucoma prevalence analysis. A total of 754 individuals aged 80 years or older or those with missing confounding variable data were excluded. A separate subgroup of 8,627 individuals was selected for IOP analysis after excluding 114 individuals who use glaucoma eye drops. The study employed linear and logistic regression analyses with Stata/MP ver. 17.0 (Stata Corp., USA) to understand the relationship between the risk of OSA assessed using the STOP-Bang score and key glaucoma indicators, adjusted for confounders. Statistical significance was set at a P-value <0.05.
Results The average±standard deviation [SD] age of the glaucoma prevalence study group was 56.59±10.48, and 42.98% were male. Notably, every unit increase in the STOP-Bang score was associated with a greater risk of glaucoma (odds ratio, 1.097; P=0.044). In the IOP subgroup, the average±SD age was 56.49±10.45 years, with 42.88% being males. The linear regression showed a statistically significant relationship between the STOP-Bang score and IOP after adjusting for confounding variables (β=0.171, P<0.001).
Conclusion Our findings revealed a significant positive association between OSA risk, as measured using the STOP-Bang score, and both the likelihood of glaucoma and high IOP.
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Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Glaucoma Vitorino Modesto Dos Santos, Kin Modesto Sugai, Vitor Ruas Domingues Arruda Modesto Turkish Journal of Internal Medicine.2026; 8: 1. CrossRef
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Background This study aimed to examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and intraocular pressure (IOP) according to facial flushing in Korean men with obesity.
Methods The study included 479 Korean men with a body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 (75 non-drinkers, 174 with drinking-related facial flushing, and 230 without facial flushing) who underwent health check-ups between October 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between alcohol consumption and high IOP (≥21 mm Hg).
Results Flushers consuming ≤16 drinks per week had a significantly higher risk of high IOP than non-drinkers, depending on alcohol consumption (≤8 standard drinks: odds ratio [OR], 4.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05– 19.25; >8 but ≤16 standard drinks: OR, 8.14; 95% CI, 1.37–48.45). However, when the consumption was >16 drinks per week, the high IOP risk did not significantly increase (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.05–10.69). In addition, there was no significant relationship between alcohol consumption and high IOP among non-flushers consuming ≤8 drinks per week (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 0.52–8.19). However, a significantly increased risk of high IOP was observed among nonflushers consuming >8 drinks per week, depending on alcohol consumption (>8 but ≤16 standard drinks: OR, 4.84; 95% CI, 1.14–20.61; >16 standard drinks: OR, 4.08; 95% CI, 1.02–16.26).
Conclusion This study suggests that obese men with alcohol flush reactions may have an increased risk of high IOP with the consumption of smaller amounts of alcohol than non-flushers.
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