title: Risk of selected eye diseases in people admitted to hospital for hypertension or diabetes mellitus: record linkage studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Associations among hypertension, diabetes mellitus and some ophthalmic diseases are well established; associations with others are more equivocal. The aim was to quantify associations accurately using large epidemiological datasets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of the Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS), 1963-1998, and English linked hospital episode statistics (LHES), 1999-2010; calculation of rate ratios of eye disease in a hypertension cohort and a diabetes cohort, compared with a reference cohort as control.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk of cataract following hypertension was marginally elevated (rate ratio ORLS 1.15, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.31; LHES 1.06, 1.01 to 1.10), as was risk of glaucoma (LHES 1.07, 1.00 to 1.14) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (LHES 1.14, 1.02 to 1.27). Risk of retinal vein or artery occlusion was elevated three- to fivefold in both populations. Risk of retinal detachment was elevated in LHES at 1.52 (1.43 to 1.73). Risk of cataract in diabetes was high in ORLS and LHES at, respectively, 2.95 (2.75 to 3.16) and 2.30 (2.24 to 2.35), as was risk of glaucoma: 2.47 (2.14 to 2.84) and 2.23 (2.15 to 2.30). Risks were high for AMD (10.3, 8.1 to 13.1, and 3.46, 3.35 to 3.58) and retinal detachment (3.41, 2.71 to 4.25, and 7.96, 7.63 to 8.30), and very high for retinal vein and artery occlusion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the exception of retinal vascular occlusion, elevations of risk of the ophthalmic diseases studied in hypertension were modest. By contrast, there were significant and substantial increases of risk for each eye disease in people with diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Goldacre
authors.forename: Clare J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wotton
authors.forename: Tiarnan D L
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Keenan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult