The Association between Serum Lipids and Intraocular Pressure in 2 Large United Kingdom Cohorts

Last updated:

19 November 2025

Author(s):

Kian M. Madjedi, Kelsey V. Stuart, Sharon Y.L. Chua, Robert N. Luben, Alasdair Warwick, Louis R. Pasquale, Jae H. Kang, Janey L. Wiggs, Marleen A.H. Lentjes, Hugues Aschard, Naveed Sattar, Paul J. Foster, Anthony P. Khawaja, Modifiable Risk Factors for Glaucoma Collaboration and the UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium, Mark Chia, Ron Do, Alan Kastner, Jihye Kim, Giovanni Montesano, Denize Atan, Tariq Aslam, Sarah A. Barman, Jenny H. Barrett, Paul Bishop, Peter Blows, Catey Bunce, Roxana O. Carare, Usha Chakravarthy, Michelle Chan, Sharon Y.L. Chua, David P. Crabb, Philippa M. Cumberland, Alexander Day, Parul Desai, Bal Dhillon, Andrew D. Dick, Cathy Egan, Sarah Ennis, Paul Foster, Marcus Fruttiger, John E.J. Gallacher, David F. Garway-Heath, Jane Gibson, Dan Gore, Jeremy A. Guggenheim, Chris J. Hammond, Alison Hardcastle, Simon P. Harding, Ruth E. Hogg, Pirro Hysi, Pearse A. Keane, Peng T. Khaw, Anthony P. Khawaja, Gerassimos Lascaratos, Andrew J. Lotery, Tom Macgillivray, Sarah Mackie, Keith Martin, Michelle McGaughey, Bernadette McGuinness, Gareth J. McKay, Martin McKibbin, Danny Mitry, Tony Moore, James E. Morgan, Zaynah A. Muthy, Eoin O'Sullivan, Chris G. Owen, Praveen Patel, Euan Paterson, Tunde Peto, Axel Petzold, Jugnoo S. Rahi, Alicja R. Rudnikca, Jay Self, Sobha Sivaprasad, David Steel, Irene Stratton, Nicholas Strouthidis, Cathie Sudlow, Dhanes Thomas, Emanuele Trucco, Adnan Tufail, Veronique Vitart, Stephen A. Vernon, Ananth C. Viswanathan, Cathy Williams, Katie Williams, Jayne V. Woodside, MaxM. Yates, Jennifer Yip, Yalin Zheng

Publish date:

30 April 2022

Journal:

Ophthalmology

PubMed ID:

35500606

DOI:

10.1016/j.ophtha.2022.04.023

Abstract

PURPOSE: Serum lipids are modifiable, routinely collected blood test features associated with cardiovascular health. We examined the association of commonly collected serum lipid measures (total cholesterol [TC], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C], and triglycerides) with intraocular pressure (IOP).

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study in the UK Biobank and European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk cohorts.

PARTICIPANTS: We included 94 323 participants from the UK Biobank (mean age, 57 years) and 6230 participants from the EPIC-Norfolk (mean age, 68 years) cohorts with data on TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and triglycerides collected between 2006 and 2009.

METHODS: Multivariate linear regression adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, anthropometric, medical, and ophthalmic covariables was used to examine the associations of serum lipids with corneal-compensated IOP (IOPcc).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Corneal-compensated IOP.

RESULTS: Higher levels of TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C were associated independently with higher IOPcc in both cohorts after adjustment for key demographic, medical, and lifestyle factors. For each 1-standard deviation increase in TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C, IOPcc was higher by 0.09 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.11 mmHg; P < 0.001), 0.11 mmHg (95% CI, 0.08-0.13 mmHg; P < 0.001), and 0.07 mmHg (95% CI, 0.05-0.09 mmHg; P < 0.001), respectively, in the UK Biobank cohort. In the EPIC-Norfolk cohort, each 1-standard deviation increase in TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C was associated with a higher IOPcc by 0.19 mmHg (95% CI, 0.07-0.31 mmHg; P = 0.001), 0.14 mmHg (95% CI, 0.03-0.25 mmHg; P = 0.016), and 0.17 mmHg (95% CI, 0.06-0.29 mmHg; P = 0.003). An inverse association between triglyceride levels and IOP in the UK Biobank (-0.05 mmHg; 95% CI, -0.08 to -0.03; P < 0.001) was not replicated in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort (P = 0.30).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that serum TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C are associated positively with IOP in 2 United Kingdom cohorts and that triglyceride levels may be associated negatively. Future research is required to assess whether these associations are causal in nature.