Levels of Plasma Homocysteine,Serum Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma - A Case Control Study

Purpose: To study the levels of Plasma homocysteine and serum vitamin B12 and folic acid in cases of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma(POAG). Methods: It was a case-control cross sectional observational study for duration of one year. Calculated sample size was 28. The cases were randomly selected among all POAG patients >=40 yrs attending glaucoma clinic. Age and sex matched healthy individuals were recruited in the control group. Assay of homocysteine was carried out using the Human homocysteine, serum vitamin B12 and folic acid was carried out in both the groups statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 version. The results were presented in mean ± SD and percentages. Unpaired t-test was used to compare the study parameters between cases and controls (CI= 95%; p<0.05significant). Pearson Correlation coefficient was used to find the correlation among the study parameters. Linear regression analysis was carried out to find the strength of the correlation between the study parameters. Results: Level of Vitamin B12 was significantly lower and homocysteine was significantly higher in the patients of advanced glaucoma than moderate and mild. There was poor negative correlation between vitamin B12 and homocysteine, vitamin B12 and Cup Disc Ratio (CDR). There was significant moderate correlationbetween CDR and homocysteine (r=0.47, p=0.01). Conclusions: Elevated homocysteine level may act as a pathological link on the progression of POAG. Understanding and characterizing its role in the pathogenesis POAG of could help in identifying novel target to combat this blinding disease which is the major cause of blindness in adults.