PURPOSE. To identify clinical and epidemiological features of the course of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in patients with a verified family history of the disease.METHODS. The study protocol included data from 103 people (103 eyes), among them 37 (35.9%) men and 66 (64.1%) women. Group 1 (44 people, 44 eyes) included patients with sporadic glaucoma. Group 2 consisted of patients with a hereditary form of the disease (41 people, 41 eyes). Healthy individuals (18 people, 18 eyes) comprised the control group. Mean age of all patients at the time of final examination was 60.6 (56.0; 66.3) years. In all cases, the diagnosis was established in accordance with the system of differential diagnosis of diseases. Examination was always carried out in person and included routine and specialized study methods (static automated perimetry, optical coherence tomography, examination of the thickness of the cornea in the central optical zone).RESULTS. The mean age of patients with a family history at the time of POAG diagnosis was 59.8 (53.9; 63.1) years, in patients with sporadic glaucoma — 63.85 (58.5; 67.9) years. Therefore, POAG in the group with a family history was diagnosed 4.05 years earlier. No significant differences in the structural and functional characteristics of the visual analyzer were established. A greater number of patients with the sporadic form of the disease undergo glaucoma surgery (47.7% and 34.1%, respectively) in comparable disease duration.CONCLUSION. In people with a family history of glaucoma, preventive screening should be carried out at an earlier age than the average in the population.

This review describes currently most well-known research findings dedicated to the specific features of manifestation and course of primary open-angle glaucoma with hereditary tainted history. Despite the fact that aggravated heredity has been confirmed as a risk factor for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the information on the clinical features and progression patterns of POAG in patients with hereditary predisposition presented in the existing publications is scattered, and its availability is still limited by the amount of included material. All of this, in turn, makes it impossible to fully predict the course of the disease and to discuss the possibility of its earlier detection in that population group. The discussion presented in this work points out the type of kinship for which the risk of developing glaucoma is most relevant, as well as the supposed characteristics of the age of onset of POAG among patients with a family history of this disease. The results of the studies analyzed in this review can help actualize the viewpoint on the possible differences in clinical manifestations of the disease in patients with hereditary (familial) and sporadic forms of glaucoma, as well as on the necessity of further clinical research in this area.