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Purpose: We used a polygenic risk score (PRS) to identify high-risk groups for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) within population-based cohorts., Design: Secondary analysis of 4 prospective population-based studies., Participants: We included four European-ancestry cohorts: the United States-based Nurses' Health Study, Nurses' Health Study 2, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Rotterdam Study (RS) in The Netherlands. The United States cohorts included female nurses and male health professionals ≤ 55 years of age. The RS included residents ≤ 45 years of age living in Rotterdam, The Netherlands., Methods: Polygenic risk score weights were estimated by applying the lassosum method on imputed genotype and phenotype data from the UK Biobank. This resulted in 144 020 variants, single nucleotide polymorphism and insertions or deletions, with nonzero βs that we used to calculate a PRS in the target populations. Using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, we estimated the relationship between the standardized PRS and relative risk for POAG. Additionally, POAG prediction was tested by calculating these models' concordance (Harrell's C statistic). Finally, we assessed the association between PRS tertiles and glaucoma-related traits., Main Outcome Measures: The relative risk for POAG and Harrell's C statistic., Results: Among 1046 patients and 38 809‬ control participants, the relative risk (95% confidence interval) for POAG for participants in the highest PRS quintile was 3.99 (3.08-5.18) times higher in the United States cohorts and 4.89 (2.93-8.17) times higher in the RS, compared with participants with median genetic risk (third quintile). Combining age, sex, intraocular pressure of more than 25 mmHg, and family history resulted in a meta-analyzed concordance of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.73-0.75). Adding the PRS to this model improved the concordance to 0.82 (95% CI, 0.80-0.84). In a meta-analysis of all cohorts, patients in the highest tertile showed a larger cup-to-disc ratio at diagnosis, by 0.10 (95% CI, 0.06-0.14), and a 2.07-fold increased risk of requiring glaucoma surgery (95% CI, 1.19-3.60)., Conclusions: Incorporating a PRS into a POAG predictive model improves identification concordance from 0.75 up to 0.82, supporting its potential for guiding more cost-effective screening strategies., Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article., (Copyright © 2024 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) likely predict risk and prognosis of glaucoma. We compared the PRS performance for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), defined using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes vs manual medical record review., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Methods: We identified POAG cases in the Mount Sinai BioMe and Mass General Brigham (MGB) biobanks using ICD codes. We confirmed POAG based on optical coherence tomograms and visual fields. In a separate 5% sample, the absence of POAG was confirmed with intraocular pressure and cup-disc ratio criteria. We used genotype data and either self-reported glaucoma diagnoses or ICD-10 codes for glaucoma diagnoses from the UK Biobank and the lassosum method to compute a genome-wide POAG PRS. We compared the area under the curve (AUC) for POAG prediction based on ICD codes vs medical records., Results: We reviewed 804 of 996 BioMe and 367 of 1006 MGB ICD-identified cases. In BioMe and MGB, respectively, positive predictive value was 53% and 55%; negative predictive value was 96% and 97%; sensitivity was 97% and 97%; and specificity was 44% and 53%. Adjusted PRS AUCs for POAG using ICD codes vs manual record review in BioMe were not statistically different (P ≥.21) by ancestry: 0.77 vs 0.75 for African, 0.80 vs 0.80 for Hispanic, and 0.81 vs 0.81 for European. Results were similar in MGB (P ≥.18): 0.72 vs 0.80 for African, 0.83 vs 0.86 for Hispanic, and 0.74 vs 0.73 for European., Conclusions: A POAG PRS performed similarly using either manual review or ICD codes in 2 electronic health record-linked biobanks; manual assessment of glaucoma status might not be necessary for some PRS studies. However, caution should be exercised when using ICD codes for glaucoma diagnosis given their low specificity (44%-53%) for manually confirmed cases of glaucoma., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the genetic relationship between smoking and glaucoma., Methods: We used summary-level genetic data for smoking initiation, smoking intensity (cigarettes per day [CPD]), intraocular pressure (IOP), vertical cup-disc ratio, and open-angle glaucoma (OAG) to estimate global genetic correlations (rg) and perform two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) experiments that explored relations between traits. Finally, we examined associations between smoking genetic risk scores (GRS) and smoking traits with measured IOP and OAG in Rotterdam Study participants., Results: We identified weak inverse rg between smoking- and glaucoma-related traits that were insignificant after Bonferroni correction. However, MR analysis revealed that genetically predicted smoking initiation was associated with lower IOP (-0.18 mm Hg per SD, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.30 to -0.06, P = 0.003). Furthermore, genetically predicted smoking intensity was associated with decreased OAG risk (odds ratio [OR] = 0.74 per SD, 95% CI = 0.61 to 0.90, P = 0.002). In the Rotterdam Study, the smoking initiation GRS was associated with lower IOP (-0.09 mm Hg per SD, 95% CI = -0.17 to -0.01, P = 0.04) and lower odds of OAG (OR = 0.84 per SD, 95% CI = 0.73 to 0.98, P = 0.02) in multivariable-adjusted analyses. In contrast, neither smoking history nor CPD was associated with IOP (P ≥ 0.38) or OAG (P ≥ 0.54). Associations between the smoking intensity GRS and glaucoma traits were null (P ≥ 0.13)., Conclusions: MR experiments and GRS generated from Rotterdam Study participants support an inverse relationship between smoking and glaucoma., Translational Relevance: Understanding the genetic drivers of the inverse relationship between smoking and glaucoma could yield new insights into glaucoma pathophysiology.

Topic: This systematic review and meta-analysis summarizes the existing evidence for the association of alcohol use with intraocular pressure (IOP) and open-angle glaucoma (OAG)., Clinical Relevance: Understanding and quantifying these associations may aid clinical guidelines or treatment strategies and shed light on disease pathogenesis. The role of alcohol, a modifiable factor, in determining IOP and OAG risk also may be of interest from an individual or public health perspective., Methods: The study protocol was preregistered in the Open Science Framework Registries (https://osf.io/z7yeg). Eligible articles (as of May 14, 2021) from 3 databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus) were independently screened and quality assessed by 2 reviewers. All case-control, cross-sectional, and cohort studies reporting a quantitative effect estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between alcohol use and either IOP or OAG were included. The evidence for the associations with both IOP and OAG was qualitatively summarized. Effect estimates for the association with OAG were pooled using random effects meta-analysis. Studies not meeting formal inclusion criteria for systematic review, but with pertinent results, were also appraised and discussed. Certainty of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework., Results: Thirty-four studies were included in the systematic review. Evidence from 10 studies reporting an association with IOP suggests that habitual alcohol use is associated with higher IOP and prevalence of ocular hypertension (IOP > 21 mmHg), although absolute effect sizes were small. Eleven of 26 studies, comprising 173 058 participants, that tested for an association with OAG met inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Pooled effect estimates indicated a positive association between any use of alcohol and OAG (1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.36; P = 0.03; I 2  = 40.5%), with similar estimates for both prevalent and incident OAG. The overall GRADE certainty of evidence was very low., Conclusions: Although this meta-analysis suggests a harmful association between alcohol use and OAG, our results should be interpreted cautiously given the weakness and heterogeneity of the underlying evidence base, the small absolute effect size, and the borderline statistical significance. Nonetheless, these findings may be clinically relevant, and future research should focus on improving the quality of evidence., (Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)