Correlation between cigarette smoking and raised intraocular pressure in males

OBJECTIVE: Smoking is one of the most important risk factors both in systemic as well as ocular diseases. Its role in pathogenesis of ocular hypertension and open-angle glaucoma has been proposed, but there remains a controversy in the study results. Our aim is to find any association between cigarette smoking and raised intraocular pressure (IOP). METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 60 male subjects were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-one were selected using simple random sampling, had raised IOP, among which 17 were smokers. Two-nine matched subjects had normal IOP, with 11 smokers among them. Smoking parameters were classified using Smoking Index as well as pack-years. The correlation between different smoking parameters and IOP was studied and analyzed. RESULTS: There was a positive association between IOP and smoking overall (P value 0.021). In addition, there was a significant correlation between IOP and pack-years (P value 0.036), as well as IOP and duration of smoking (P = 0.044). However, there was no significant association of daily number of cigarettes smoked with IOP, as well as between mild, moderate, and heavy smokers in terms of intraocular pressure. CONCLUSION: Smoking is found to be an important risk factor in pathogenesis of ocular hypertension, as well as glaucoma. Lifestyle modification in terms of prohibition of smoking may reduce the overall incidence and progression of glaucoma worldwide.