The Study
The Association of Physical Activity with Glaucoma and Related Traits in the UK Biobank
This study looked at whether people who exercise more have healthier eyes, but it didn't randomly assign people to exercise or not — it just watched what people already did. So we can say exercise is linked to slightly thicker eye layers, but we can't say exercise caused it — maybe healthier people just exercise more and have healthier eyes for other reasons.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Scientists checked if people who move more have healthier eyes, especially around glaucoma risk and eye layer thickness.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 552 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The thickness change is very small — like adding a single layer of paint to a wall — and doesn't mean better eye health or less glaucoma risk.
- 2People who exercised more had eyes with a slightly thicker inner layer (+0.57 μm), but no lower glaucoma risk.
- 3Their eye pressure didn't go down consistently — sometimes it went up a tiny bit in surveys, but not in wearable device data.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Ophthalmology
Year
2023
Authors
Kian M. Madjedi, K. Stuart, S. Chua, P. Ramulu, A. Warwick, R. Luben, Zihan Sun, Mark A. Chia, H. Aschard, J. Wiggs, J. Kang, Louis R. Pasquale, P. Foster, A. Khawaja
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who regularly do aerobic exercise have lower rates of glaucoma, which is linked to better blood flow to the optic nerve and slightly lower eye pressure.
Adults aged 37 to 73 who engage in higher levels of habitual physical activity have a thicker macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer in the retina, with a measurable difference of up to 0.57 micrometers.
In adults aged 37 to 73, the amount of regular physical activity does not correlate with whether a person is diagnosed with glaucoma.
Genetic evidence shows that physical activity does not cause changes in glaucoma risk, intraocular pressure, or the thickness of the macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer.
In adults aged 37–73, people who report being more physically active tend to have slightly higher eye pressure, but this pattern does not appear when activity is measured with accelerometers, suggesting the link may be due to how people report their activity rather than a real biological effect.
In adults aged 37 to 73, the amount of physical activity does not relate to the thickness of the macular retinal nerve fiber layer.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.