Parkinson’s disease incidence in glaucoma patients from israel: insights from a 20-year follow-up sample

Purpose: To evaluate the association between glaucoma and Parkinson’s disease (PD) over an extended follow-up period and to ascertain whether the diagnosis of glaucoma increases the risk for PD development. Methods: The anonymized electronic medical records of Israel’s second largest healthcare provider were retrospectively searched for all newly diagnosed patients with glaucoma aged 40 years or older from 2000 to 2021. A total of 139,554 patients were enrolled in this study, comprising 23,259 glaucoma patients and 116,295 sex- and age-matched controls. The incidence of PD was compared between groups. The main outcome measures were the incidence rates of PD and corresponding hazard ratio (HR) for PD development among the glaucoma cohort in relation to controls. Additionally, we aimed to evaluate the impact of various confounders, comorbidities, and demographic factors on the risk of PD development in the glaucoma population. Results: Glaucoma was not significantly associated with an increased risk of PD, with an adjusted HR of 1.145 (95% CI = 0.975–1.345). Age, male sex, and diabetes mellitus demonstrated a significant positive association with PD development in a univariate and multivariate analyses. Furthermore, the cumulative hazard log-rank test was not statistically significant (p = 0.055), suggesting no clear association between glaucoma and PD risk over the follow-up period. Conclusion: This large-scale study found no statistically significant association between glaucoma and the risk of developing PD. These findings suggest that any potential relationship is likely weak and may be influenced by confounding factors.