Absence of Association Between Glaucoma and Stroke Risk: Insights From a Cross-Sectional Study and a Two-Sample...

Observational studies have reported an association between glaucoma and stroke risk; however, whether this relationship reflects causality remains unclear. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the association between glaucoma and stroke by integrating population-based cross-sectional analysis with Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess both observational and genetic evidence.

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2008 cycles. Multivariable logistic regression models were applied to examine the association between glaucoma and stroke after adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, and cardiovascular risk factors. In parallel, a two-sample MR analysis was performed using summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies, evaluating overall glaucoma as well as primary open-angle and neovascular glaucoma in relation to stroke and ischemic stroke subtypes. Causal estimates were primarily derived using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, with multiple sensitivity analyses to assess robustness.

In the NHANES analysis (n = 1312), glaucoma was not significantly associated with stroke in crude or fully adjusted models. In MR analyses, genetically predicted glaucoma showed no evidence of a causal association with stroke or ischemic stroke subtypes, including large artery atherosclerotic, cardioembolic, and small vessel stroke. These null findings were consistent across MR-Egger, weighted median, and weighted mode methods. Sensitivity analyses accounting for heterogeneity, pleiotropy, and outlier instruments did not materially alter the results.

Using complementary observational and genetic approaches, this study found no evidence supporting a causal relationship between glaucoma and stroke, providing new insights into their genetic epidemiology.