Late presentation is an important risk factor for blindness caused by advanced glaucoma.
On p 639 Fraser et al report on a case control study based in three English hospital eye departments to determine the risk factors associated with patients who presented late. After accounting for family history, time since last visit to an optometrist, and lack of initial diagnosis by an optometrist, they found that late presenters were more likely to be socially deprived. Thus socially deprived patients are at greater risk of going blind from glaucoma. Distensibility is a measure of vessel wall stiffness and is a marker of vascular function relevant to development of cardiovascular disease. They found that breast feeding in infancy for more than four months, was related to reduced arterial function 20 years later.