Who Gets Glaucoma - Glaucoma: The Aging Eye Preventing And Treating Eye Disease
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
Who gets glaucoma?
No one is immune to glaucoma, but some people are more likely than others to develop the disease. Major risk factors are
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age greater than 40
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a family history of the disease
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elevated pressure in the eye
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African American or Hispanic ancestry.
Diabetes, severe nearsightedness or farsightedness, the routine use of steroid drugs, past eye injuries, and a history of anemia and shock are also associated with increased risk for one or more types of glaucoma. Just why glaucoma seems to appear as people get older is not clear. Like other bodily processes that wind down with age, the eye's drainage system also seems to become less efficient.
| Last updated: | June 19, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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