Purpose: To assess the relationship between glaucoma and mortality in a population-based setting.
Methods: At baseline in 2001, the Beijing Eye Study examined 4356 subjects for glaucoma with a detected glaucoma frequency of 135/4356 or 3.1%. Mean age was 55.9+/-10.4 years (40-101 years). In 2006, all study participants were reinvited for a follow-up examination.
Results: Out of the 4356 subjects, 3208 (73.6%) subjects returned for follow-up examination, while 124 (2.8%) subjects were dead, and 1024 (23.5%) subjects did not agree to be re-examined or had moved away. Mortality rate was significantly (P<0.001; odds ratio (OR): 4.72; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.67, 8.33) higher in the 135 glaucoma subjects (15/135 or 11.1+/-2.7%; 95% CI: 5.8, 16.4) than in the 4221 participants without glaucoma (109/4221 or 2.6+/-0.2%; 95% CI: 2.2, 3.0). In binary logistic regression analysis, mortality was significantly associated with age (P<0.001), gender (P<0.001; OR: 0.44; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.66), level of education (P<0.001; OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.74), and the presence of glaucoma (P=0.007; OR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.26, 4.20). If the whole glaucoma group was differentiated into an open-angle glaucoma group and an angle-closure group, mortality was still significantly associated with age (P<0.001), gender (P<0.001), level of education (P<0.001), and with the presence of angle-closure glaucoma (P=0.006; OR: 3.09; 95% CI: 1.49, 10.2), while the association with the presence of open-angle glaucoma was marginally significant (P=0.13; OR: 1.83; 95% CI: 0.84, 4.01).
Conclusions: The data suggest that glaucoma, particularly angle-closure glaucoma, may be associated with an increased rate of mortality in adult Chinese in Greater Beijing.