Glaucoma and Systemic Disease

Abstract

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. Due to its potential to cause permanent vision loss, it is important to understand how systemic conditions and their respective treatments can be associated with or increase the risk for developing glaucoma. In this review, we examined the literature for up-to-date discussions and provided commentary on glaucoma, its pathophysiology, and associated risk factors. We discuss systemic diseases and the impact, risk, and mechanism for developing glaucoma, including pharmacologically induced glaucoma; inflammatory and auto-immune conditions; infectious, dermatologic, cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, urologic, neurologic, psychiatric and systemic malignancies: intraocular tumors; as well as pediatric, and genetic conditions. The goal of our discussion of systemic conditions including their commonality, mechanisms, treatments, and associations with developing glaucoma is to emphasize the importance of ocular examinations and follow-up with the multidisciplinary teams involved in the care of each patient to prevent unnecessary vision-loss.