Epidemiology and clinical presentation of glaucoma in a referral facility in Ghana: Any lessons for public health intervention?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical profile of patients living with glaucoma and receiving care in a tertiary eye center in Ghana. This was a hospital-based retrospective study of clinical records of glaucoma patients from January 2010 to December 2019. The study involved collating demographic information of patients, clinical presentation, and the management of glaucoma. A total of nineteen thousand (19,000) charts were retrieved from the eye center’s archives. Out of these, 660 (3.5%) records of patients qualified for the study and were analyzed. There were 398 (60.3%) males and 262 (39.7%) females. Their ages ranged from 9 to 86 years (mean age = 47.30; SD ± 16.86 years). The averages of ocular parameters of 1,320 eyes (660 patients) were visual acuity = 0.26 ± 0.55 logMAR; intraocular pressure: 17.31 ± 6.11 mmHg; cup-to-disc ratios: 0.67 ± 0.17 D; and the average retinal nerve fibers thickness was 95.03 ± 21.74 μm. The mainstay of treatment was the sole use of medication. Males were the major group receiving glaucoma care at the tertiary level. Glaucoma cases included juveniles but the mean age suggests most were of adult-onset. Socio-demographic characteristics affected the diagnosis and management of glaucoma among patients receiving care at a referral center. Public health, stakeholders, and policymakers’ interventions can help identify individuals with glaucoma.

Prevalence and clinical profile of glaucoma patients in rural Nigeria—A hospital based study

“…The present study found no significant difference in glaucoma prevalence between male and females, which was similar to previous studies from Ghana [ 44 , 45 ]. In contrast, studies from Nigeria [ 5 , 40 , 41 ], Ghana [ 46 ] and South Korea [ 44 ] reported a higher prevalence in men than women. Moreover, gender predilection of glaucoma has not been established suggesting the need for more studies to determine the association of glaucoma with gender.…”

Associations Between Personality Traits and Adherence to Treatment in Patients with Primary Open Angle Glaucoma in an African Population

“…The eye care workforce at this specialist eye centre consisted of ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses and opticians. The daily ophthalmic patient attendance to the facility averages one hundred, of which close to 30% are glaucoma patients [7].…”

“…The sample for this study was 400 patients with POAG who were systematically sampled when they reported for routine reviews at this specialist eye facility. The sample size was determined using the formula N = Z 2 (1-p) (p)/b2, where N = minimum sample size, z = the standard normal deviation, set at 1.96 which corresponds to the 95% con dence interval, p = estimated prevalence of 30% [7], b = degree of accuracy desired, usually set at 5%. Per this equation, the sample size was determined to be 323 which was adjusted to 400 participants to account for attrition rate and ine ciencies associated with the small sample size.…”

“…Ghana is known to have the highest prevalence of glaucoma in Africa and second globally, with St. Lucia reporting the highest prevalence [3,4]. Lowering of intraocular pressure is the main objective of POAG management and this is often achieved through pharmacotherapy as the rst line of choice, especially for newly diagnosed cases and in populations with low glaucoma surgery rates [5][6][7]. POAG as a nonlife threatening, asymptomatic and gradual progressive disease offers little incentive for strict adherence to a lifetime therapeutic regimen [1,8].…”

Quercetin Regulates Inflammatory Response of Retinal Ganglion Cells by Affecting the Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Associated Factor 6/Transforming Growth Factor-β-Activated Kinase-1 Signaling Pathway

“…Glaucoma is an eye disease characterized by intermittent or continuous increase in intraocular pressure [1] . Currently, there are nearly 600 million patients with glaucoma worldwide, of whom 8.4 million suffer from blindness [2] . The pathogenesis of glaucoma, a kind of degenerative and blinding optic neuropathy caused by multiple factors, is complicated [3] and its clinical manifestations are primarily optic atrophy, visual field damage and Retinal Ganglion Cell (RGC) apoptosis.…”