Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors Associated with Glaucoma in an African Ancestry Population: Findings from the Primary Open-Angle African American Glaucoma Genetics (POAAGG) Study

Abstract

Abstract Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, disproportionately affecting African ancestry individuals. Limited research has explored how neighborhood quality and socioeconomic factors influence primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) risk in this population. Our study aims to address these research gaps by using geospatial data to evaluate associations between ocular health and neighborhood characteristics. This case-control study utilizes existing data of 5,192 African ancestry individuals from the Philadelphia region collected for the Primary Open-Angle African American Glaucoma Genetics (POAAGG) study. Geocoded U.S. Census data were merged with data from the POAAGG study. Individual-level demographics, air quality, food accessibility, and socioeconomic data were analyzed to assess for associations with glaucoma risk and severity. The study population comprises 3,039 controls (58.5%) and 2,153 POAG cases (41.5%). The study found that several individual factors, including older age (p < 0.001), male gender (p < 0.001), lower BMI (p = 0.003), and nonuse of alcohol (OR 0.56, p < 0.001) are associated with higher risk of POAG. Although control subjects are more likely to live in areas of low food accessibility (p = 0.03) and subjects with severe POAG are more likely to live in areas with lower rates of homeownership (p = 0.049), most other socioeconomic and environmental variables, such as air quality, education, income, occupation, and family structure, are not significantly associated with the occurrence or severity of POAG in African-ancestry individuals. This highlights the need for additional population-level genetic studies on the disease..