Association of Ambient Particulate Matter Exposure with the Incidence of Glaucoma in Childhood

We investigated whether exposure to air pollution, particularly to particles with a mass median aerodynamic diameter of ≤10 μm (PM10), is associated with diagnosis of childhood glaucoma. Retrospective cohort study. From the National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort, a total of 9004 infants born between January 2002 and December 2002 were included and followed-up for an 11-year period (2003–2012). Patients with glaucoma were defined as International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision code H40. Exposure levels of PM10 were extrapolated using geographic information systems, and individual exposure levels were assigned. During the study period, glaucoma occurred in 85 patients (0.94%). The probability of developing childhood glaucoma increased with the increase in PM10 quartiles. Increases in 1 μg/m3 of long-term PM10 were significantly associated with increased hazard ratios (HRs) for childhood glaucoma (HR = 1.22 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.15–1.28]). Compared with risk of the lowest PM10 exposure group (quartile 1), the adjusted HRs for childhood glaucoma were significant in the highest PM10 exposure group of quartile 4 (HR = 2.84 [95% CI 1.37–5.89]) in model 3. Regarding the long-term PM10 exposure, the estimated hazard was considerably elevated in quartile 4 (HR = 6.61 [95% CI 2.96–14.75]). Short-term and long-term exposure to PM10 was associated with the incidence of childhood glaucoma. This finding confirms previous reports on the link between air pollution and ocular disease and suggests that PM10 exposure may be a risk for childhood glaucoma.