Latest research has shown that glaucoma, the condition that deteriorates the eye, is largely dependent on three important factors which are age, gender and place of residence. To be more precise, the latitude of a city can have a major say in deciding the incidence of glaucoma. According to the lead researcher Louis Pasquale, the disease is more evident in women. Not all people of Norwegian descent run the risk of contraction unless they have spent a lifetime there. The place in the world where a person lives can be a deciding factor.

The major aim of the study was to research the impact of place on development of ES. For the study, 78,955 women and 41, 191 men were chosen from all over the United States. All the people in the study group are long term residents of United States with more than 20 years of stay and so, researchers could study the influence of place on people in a better manner. The people in the study group also provided their entire residential history.

The results of the study were surprising. It was found that age, place and gender had significant impact on glaucoma. Another factor that influenced the problem was family history. According to the study, people living in the south tier of America had 75% reduced risk while the people living in the middle tier had 47% reduced risks. These figures are in comparison to the northern tier. The place where people lived and continued living after the age of 15 is largely responsible for influencing the risks associated with ES. The second most profound influence was of the present place of residence.

Although the study found that women are more susceptible to the problem, the actual reason behind the gender bias was not identified. Other results of the study revealed that people who had a family history of glaucoma ran double risk of contracting the problem themselves. Descendents from the Scandinavian countries did not suffer higher risk when compared to others. However, since a number of people living in Scandinavian regions have been diagnosed with the problem, it can be said that environmental factors in Scandinavia was responsible for incidence of the disease. The study also revealed that eye color did not influence onset of glaucoma. In the United States, it is expected that by 2020, more than three million people will be either affected to some degree or completely blinded by the glaucoma.