Loneliness and social isolation are associated with an increased risk of glaucoma: a UK Biobank cohort study

BackgroundLoneliness and social isolation have been found to be associated with various health-related outcomes. Our study aimed to evaluate the association of loneliness and social isolation with the risk of glaucoma.MethodsA total of 373,330 participants from the UK Biobank without glaucoma at recruitment were included in this study. Self-reported questionnaires were used to define loneliness and social isolation. Incident glaucoma events were identified by hospital inpatient admissions and self-reported data. COX proportional hazards models adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health-related factors were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 13.1 (interquartile range: 12.3-13.9) years, 6,489 participants developed glaucoma. After adjusting for confounding factors, loneliness (yes vs. no: adjusted HR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.04-1.30; P = 0.009) and social isolation (yes vs. no: adjusted HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.01-1.16; P = 0.033) were associated with an increased risk of glaucoma.ConclusionsIn this population-based prospective cohort study, loneliness and social isolation were associated with a higher risk of glaucoma.