Glaucoma, but not cataracts, predicts lower verbal fluency performance: 3.8-year follow-up from the ELSA-Brasil study

ABSTRACT

Glaucoma, cataracts, and cognitive decline are most common in older ages. Although cross-sectional studies showed that these disorders are associated, follow-up studies are lacking. To investigate this issue, baseline and follow-up data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) were employed. We evaluated participants ≥ 55 years-old at follow-up without diagnosis of dementia, stroke, and other eye conditions except for glaucoma and cataracts. Cognition was evaluated using delayed word recall, verbal fluency, and trail making (version B) tests. Regression models were employed to investigate associations between glaucoma and cognition, adjusted by several confounders. Out of 3,867 participants, 379 and 118 presented cataracts and glaucoma, respectively. Only glaucoma was apredictor of lower verbal fluency (B = −0.23, 95% CI −035 to −012, p< 0.001). Other associations were not significant (ps>0.57). Our results suggest that glaucoma may be related to declining cognition.

KEYWORDS:

• Cohort study
• verbal fluency
• glaucoma
• cataracts
• cognition
• eye diseases

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The ELSA-Brasil study was supported by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and CNPq (grants 01060010.00RS, 01060212.00BA, 01060300.00ES, 01060278.00MG, 01060115.00SP, 01060071.00RJ). KSMV receives a fellowship from São Paulo Research State Foundation (FAPESP 15/22227-2). ARB receives a research productivity grant from CNPQ (1B).