Objective:

To investigate the association between neovascular glaucoma (NVG) and long-term mortality and cardiovascular events.

Key Findings:

• NVG is associated with a 70% increase in all-cause mortality.
• Patients with NVG have significantly elevated risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and cardiac arrest.
• 26.6% of NVG patients experienced a three-point major adverse cardiovascular event over 10 years, compared to 15.7% of matched controls.
• Ten-year mortality for NVG patients is nearly double that of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (17.1% vs 8.9%).
• NVG patients with underlying conditions like proliferative diabetic retinopathy or retinal vein occlusion had worse systemic outcomes.

Interpretation:

The findings suggest that NVG may serve as a clinical marker for systemic vascular disease, indicating a need for integrated cardiovascular risk assessment in NVG management.

Limitations:

• The retrospective design may introduce biases.
• Reliance on coded data may affect the accuracy of findings.

Conclusion:

NVG should be viewed not only as an ophthalmic condition but also as a potential indicator of systemic health risks, warranting closer collaboration with primary care and cardiology for patient management.