Smoking not Strongly Linked to Glaucoma

Researchers reviewed decades of data examining the relationship between tobacco use and primary open-angle glaucoma. Photo: Reza Mehrad/Unsplash. Patients who use smokeable tobacco products are at no greater risk of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) than those who don’t use them, claims a recent London meta-analysis.Using 26 previously conducted studies from three different databases, researchers identified 6,454 cases of POAG. They claimed that a cohort of patients who were current smokers, former smokers or both “exhibited no statistically significant association with POAG when compared to individuals who had never smoked.” To ensure a broad spectrum of participants and "continuity with earlier evidence,” the studies that they initially sought out spanned the period from 1946 to 2025, though they ended up using those from 2015 onwards in their final publication.Results varied from study to study, but the authors concluded that there was “high heterogeneity” between them and that “there was no significant association between current and past smoking combined and POAG,” according to their paper on the work for International Ophthalmology. Furthermore, they acknowledged the many factors that link tobacco usage to POAG, including the fact that smoking tobacco products “induces oxidative stress through the production of free radicals.”A major limitation of the research was the varying definitions of smoking provided by the previous studies. Definitions of current smokers included “an individual who currently smoked >20 cigarettes a day,” “smoking five or more cigarettes a day for the past year or more” and “those who smoked daily for a minimum of 60 days before the enrollment of the study.” Individuals who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day were a particular source of conflicting categorization, with some studies labelling them specifically as “heavy smokers” and others as simply “current smokers.” Such differences may have affected how the authors separated and classified participants in their own results and made their conclusion less cohesive.Regardless of the connection between glaucoma and tobacco use, however, the authors noted that “tobacco smoking cessation should remain at the forefront of health promotion” due to its general negative impact on patient health, including that of their eyes.Click here for the journal source. Ramji S, Daniel S, Ansari A, et al. Tobacco smoking is not associated with primary open-angle glaucoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int Ophthalmol. 2026;46:96. [Epub ahead of print]. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.