Baseline characteristics of the study subjects
| Demographic and clinical features | Controls (n=63) | POAG (n=67) | P values* |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 67.2 (9.9) | 66.0 (8.6) | 0.46 |
| Female sex, n (%) | 36 (57.1) | 41 (61.2) | 0.64 |
| Caucasian race,† n (%) | 54 (91.5) | 56 (84.8) | 0.25 |
| Pulse in beats/min,‡ mean (SD) | 65.3 (11.2) | 66.4 (10.8) | 0.56 |
| Mean arterial pressure in mm Hg,§ mean (SD) | 92.8 (11.4) | 93.2 (12.6) | 0.85 |
| Body mass index in kg/m2, mean (SD) | 27.3 (5.7) | 25.1 (3.7) | 0.011 |
| Ever smoker (vs never), n (%) | 26 (41.9) | 31 (46.3) | 0.57 |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 15 (23.8) | 5 (7.5) | 0.0098 |
| Use of blood pressure medication, n (%) | 28 (44.4) | 20 (30.0) | 0.085 |
| Use of systemic beta-blocker medication, n (%) | 13 (20.6) | 8 (11.9) | 0.18 |
| Use of blood thinning medication, n (%) | 29 (46.0) | 23 (34.3) | 0.17 |
| Connective tissue disease,¶ n (%) | 14 (22.2) | 14 (21.0) | 0.85 |
| Family history of glaucoma,** n (%) | 0 | 38 (57.6) | – |
| Intraocular pressure at recruitment in mm Hg, mean (SD) | 14.6 (2.0) | 14.0 (4.7) | 0.29 |
| Maximum intraocular pressure in mm Hg,†† mean (SD) | NA | 23.9 (7.9) | – |
| Central corneal thickness in μm,‡‡ mean (SD) | NA | 538.0 (35.7) | – |
| Cup:disc ratio for worse eye, mean (SD) | 0.29 (0.10) | 0.82 (0.12) | <0.0001 |
| Number of glaucoma medication drops used in the worse eye plus oral glaucoma medication, mean (SD) | 0 | 2.1 (1.4) | – |
| Using topical beta-blocker medication in either eye, n (%) | 0 | 40 (59.7) | – |
| Humphrey visual field mean deviation of the worse eye in decibels, mean (SD) | NA | −9.37 (7.12) | – |
| Humphrey visual field pattern SD of the worse eye in decibels, mean (SD) | NA | 8.12 (3.81) | – |
*P values for continuous variables are from unpaired t-tests and for categorical variables are from χ2 tests.
†Categorised as Caucasian or other race. Race unknown on 4 controls and 1 patient with POAG.
‡Pulse unknown on 2 controls and 4 patients with POAG.
§Mean arterial pressure unknown on 1 control and 1 patient with POAG.
¶Includes osteoarthritis, gout, Sjogren's syndrome and unspecified types of arthritis. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, dermatomyositis and rheumatoid arthritis were not included.
**Family history unknown on 1 patient with POAG.
††Maximum intraocular pressure unknown on 6 patients with POAG.
‡‡Central corneal thickness of the eye with highest recorded intraocular pressure. Central corneal thickness unknown on 4 patients with POAG.
NA, not available; POAG, primary open-angle glaucoma.