Investigators report 12-year incidence of open-angle glaucoma

Recent analyses from the Thessaloniki Eye Study show the 12-year incidence of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is 4.41%, reported Fotis Topouzis MD at ESCRS Glaucoma Day 2016. “The OAG incidence in our Caucasian population is similar to that reported in the Australian Blue Mountains Eye Study. It is higher than that in two other Caucasian population studies, the Rotterdam Study and the Visual Impairment Project, and lower than the incidence in the Barbados and Los Angeles Latino Eye Study,” commented Dr Toupouzis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The 12-year incidence of OAG was determined based on data from 1,042 participants who underwent a comprehensive eye examination. The participants in the incidence study had a mean age of about 69 years at baseline and mean follow-up of 11.6 years. Dr Toupouzis reported that there was a trend for the incident rate to be higher among males, but it was not statistically significant after adjustment for age. The 4.41% incidence reflected a 12-year incidence of 2.11% for primary OAG (POAG) and 2.3% for pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PEXG). Presence of pseudoexfoliation increased the likelihood of developing incident OAG 3.5-fold. “This finding is exactly in line with findings from analyses of data from our prevalence study,” Dr Toupouzis said. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) at baseline (>21mmHg) was associated with a 4.6-fold increased likelihood of developing incident POAG. Elevated IOP at baseline, however, had no value for predicting risk for incident PEXG.