Aim: To estimate the number of people with open angle (OAG) and angle closure glaucoma (ACG) in 2010 and 2020. Methods: A review of published data with use of prevalence models. Data from population based studies of age specific prevalence of OAG and ACG that satisfied standard definitions were used to construct prevalence models for OAG and ACG by age, sex, and ethnicity, weighting data proportional to sample size of each study. Models were combined with UN world population projections for 2010 and 2020 to derive the estimated number with glaucoma. Results: There will be 60.5 million people with OAG and ACG in 2010, increasing to 79.6 million by 2020, and of these, 74% will have OAG. Women will comprise 55% of OAG, 70% of ACG, and 59% of all glaucoma in 2010. Asians will represent 47% of those with glaucoma and 87% of those with ACG. Bilateral blindness will be present in 4.5 million people with OAG and 3.9 million people with ACG in 2010, rising to 5.9 and 5.3 million people in 2020, respectively. Conclusions: Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, disproportionately affecting women and Asians.

The number of people with glaucoma worldwide in 2010 and 2020

Global prevalence of glaucoma and projections of glaucoma burden through 2040: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) has shown that topical ocular hypotensive medication is effective in delaying or preventing the onset of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in individuals with elevated intraocular pressure (ocular hypertension) and no evidence of glaucomatous damage. Objective To describe baseline demographic and clinical factors that predict which participants in the OHTS developed POAG. Methods Baseline demographic and clinical data were collected prior to randomization except for corneal thickness measurements, which were performed during follow-up. Proportional hazards models were used to identify factors that predicted which participants in the OHTS developed POAG. Results In univariate analyses, baseline factors that predicted the development of POAG included older age, race (African American), sex (male), larger vertical cup-disc ratio, larger horizontal cup-disc ratio, higher intraocular pressure, greater Humphrey visual field pattern standard deviation, heart disease, and thinner central corneal measurement. In multivariate analyses, baseline factors that predicted the development of POAG included older age, larger vertical or horizontal cup-disc ratio, higher intraocular pressure, greater pattern standard deviation, and thinner central corneal measurement. Conclusions Baseline age, vertical and horizontal cup-disc ratio, pattern standard deviation, and intraocular pressure were good predictors for the onset of POAG in the OHTS. Central corneal thickness was found to be a powerful predictor for the development of POAG.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/articlepdf/270929/ecs20044.pdf

The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study: baseline factors that predict the onset of primary open-angle glaucoma.

The impact of ocular blood flow in glaucoma.

Human corneal thickness and its impact on intraocular pressure measures: a review and meta-analysis approach.

Vascular risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma: The Egna-Neumarkt Study

Prevalence of glaucoma and intraocular pressure distribution in a defined population The Egna-Neumarkt study

Epidemiology of angle-closure glaucoma: Prevalence, clinical types, and association with peripheral anterior chamber depth in the Egna-Neumarkt glaucoma study

Vascular risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma

Summary
A questionnaire was prepared and given to 332 subjects who passed through our Institute for Glaucoma with the aim of evaluating their quality of life. The diagnosis of glaucoma is associated with a diminished quality of life in a considerable percentage of the interviewed subjects. The patients are troubled most of all by the inconvenience of the treatments and the fear of visual compromission. Miotic therapies, polytherapies and systemic therapies are the less agreeable of them. Of the therapy in itself, the most disagreeable aspects are the frequency and timetable of the medications. No quality of life differences were mentioned by surgically treated patients nor those on solely pharmacological treatment.

Aldo Varotto

Papers

Vascular risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma: The Egna-Neumarkt Study

Prevalence of glaucoma and intraocular pressure distribution in a defined population The Egna-Neumarkt study

Epidemiology of angle-closure glaucoma: Prevalence, clinical types, and association with peripheral anterior chamber depth in the Egna-Neumarkt glaucoma study

Vascular risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma

Glaucoma and quality of the life