"A new study from Australia may offer a new way of identifying people at risk of glaucoma https years before vision loss https happens. Glaucoma https is a leading cause of blindness. But because vision https damage often occurs gradually most people with the eye https disease do not realize they have it until a good deal of their sight has been lost. If caught early though there are medications https and procedures that may help treat glaucoma. In the study researchers were able to predict who was at increased risk of developing the eye https disease with some accuracy by measuring blood https vessel thickness in the retinas of study participants using a computerbased imaging tool. Those with the narrowest vessels at the beginning of the study were four times more likely to have developed glaucoma a decade later. Glaucoma a Vision Thief About  million Americans and  million people worldwide have glaucoma and the numbers are projected to rise over the next few decades as the population ages. The disease involves damage to the optic nerve which relays images from the retina to the brain https  Early detection is key but without regular eye exams https most people dont know they have a problem says ophthalmologist Andrew Iwach MD. He is the executive director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco and an associate clinical professor of opthalmology at the University of California San Francisco. We call this disease a thief of vision https because most people with it have no idea that they have lost sight until it is too late to bring it back Iwach says. Vessel Narrowing Predicted Glaucoma In the study researchers from the University of Sydney followed nearly  adults aged  and older for  years. None of the participants had glaucoma when they entered the study. Compared with the group as a whole those people who were diagnosed with the eye https disease during the following decade were older had higher blood pressure https and were more likely to be female. The researchers concluded that measuring retinalvessel narrowing could help identify people at risk for glaucoma. But they added that blood pressure and other factors that can contribute to vessel size would need to be considered. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Ophthalmology. Exams Key by Age  The researchers say that the findings also highlight the importance of having regular eye exams https as people age. The American Optometric Association recommends eye exams https for adults aged  to  every two years every year for adults  and older or as recommended by their eye doctor. In addition to glaucoma regular exams can detect other eye diseases associated with aging including macular degeneration https and cataracts https Iwach says. Eye surgeon Mark Fromer MD of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City agrees that having regular eye exams https is the best protection against vision loss https associated with aging. It remains to be seen if this approach will help us identify people at risk for glaucoma sooner he says. We have a number of tools now to help us do that but weve got to get people in our offices to use them."