Serum Lipid Profile among Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Patients in a Rural Tertiary Care Hospital

BACKGROUND This study was conducted to evaluate the serum lipid profile in different grades of POAG patients and describe the demographic profile of POAG patients. METHODS This was a hospital based observational study comprising of 80 eyes of 40 POAG patients who visited OPD in the Department of Ophthalmology, Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, B.G. Nagara, Mandya District, over a period of 18 months from March 2021 to August 2022 after obtaining clearance from the institutional ethics committee and written informed consent from the study participants. RESULTS Of the 40 study participants, males constituted 62.5% (n=25) and females 32.5% (n=13) in the age group of 70 to 80 years 30% of patients had normal vision; the rest had visual impairments ranging from mild to total blindness. High cholesterol levels were present in 27.5% (n=11), high triglyceride in 42.5% (n=17), low HDL levels were present in 40% (n=16), High LDL levels were observed among 30% (n=12) of participants and high VLDL in 57.5% (n=23). The differences in the distribution of different grades of POAG with respect to different levels of total cholesterol and LDL were not significant, with p-values of 0.202 and 0.123 respectively. However, it was statistically significant for low HDL, high triglycerides and high VLDL with p value of 0.004, 0.05 and 0.017 respectively. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, this observational study discovered that there is a significant relationship between dyslipidaemia to POAG. Low levels of HDL, high triglycerides, and high VLDL have a significant relationship (p<0.05) to the occurrence of POAG. This lends credence to the idea that abnormal lipid levels increase the likelihood of developing glaucoma.