Nephron
July 23, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Elevated Intraocular Pressure Independently Predicts Long-Term Progression to Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease: A 20-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study.
Oh R, Ogino J, Sakuma Y, +9 more, Hashimoto N.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
In a 20-year cohort of 4,170 screened adults, elevated intraocular pressure independently predicted progression to advanced CKD.
What was studied
A longitudinal observational cohort of 4,170 health-screening participants followed up to 20 years, examining baseline intraocular pressure and progression to advanced CKD defined by eGFR.
Key findings
- Baseline IOP >=17.5 mm Hg was associated with significantly higher risk of advanced CKD progression
- Association was independent of other risk factors per the authors
- Specific statistic not fully captured in the abstract
Clinical relevance
This observational finding raises the question of whether IOP, a cheap and routinely measured parameter, could add to CKD risk assessment, but it does not establish causation or proven incremental predictive value.
Who should care
Limitations
Observational single-center screening cohort; key thresholds and effect sizes are truncated in the abstract, and residual confounding by shared vascular risk factors is possible.
Higher eye pressure may be a marker of long-term kidney risk, though how useful it is in practice remains unclear.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Background
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with progression to end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular events, and increased mortality. Although both conditions share common vascular and metabolic risk factors, the long-term relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) and CKD progression remains unclear. We investigated whether elevated IOP is associated with advanced CKD progression in a long-term observational cohort.
Methods
A total of 4,170 participants who underwent health screening at a preventive medicine research center were followed for up to 20 years. Progression to an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <30 mL/min/1.73 m2 was defined as the primary endpoint. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using competing risks regression with cumulative incidence function analyses. Multivariable analysis was performed using the Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard model. Propensity score matching was applied to validate the robustness of the results.
Results
Participants with baseline IOP ≥17.5 mm Hg had a significantly higher risk than those with IOP <17.5 mm Hg (HR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.08-2.05; p = 0.015) in multivariate analysis. The annual decline in eGFR associated with higher baseline IOP levels was -0.939 mL/min/year, based on ROC-derived risk stratification. Multivariable Fine-Gray analysis identified IOP ≥17.5 mm Hg as an independent risk factor for advanced CKD, together with older age, obesity, diabetes, and proteinuria. These findings were consistent in the propensity score-matched cohort (HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.01-2.39; p = 0.043).
Conclusion
Elevated IOP independently predicted long-term progression to advanced CKD. Incorporating IOP into conventional risk assessment may improve identification of individuals at high risk for CKD progression.
DOI
10.1159/000553647
PMID
42490353
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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