Prevalence of glaucoma and distribution of intraocular pressure in a population The Casteldaccia Eye Study

Abstract

IOP was measured in 1062 middle-aged and elderly subjects of a small Sicilian town, enrolled in a population based survey. The mean IOP was 15.1 +/- 3.7 mmHg without interocular or sex differences. A small but significant age-dependent increase of IOP was found. Circadian and seasonal influences were recorded: IOP was higher in the morning and in winter. The prevalence of chronic open-angle glaucoma was 1.2%, but it grew to 3.6 if only subjects aged 70 years or more were considered. IOP of 24 mmHg or more was found in 2.7%, while 4.3% of subjects showed IOP of 21 mmHg or more. This survey shows that mean IOP of the Mediterranean population studied is similar to the IOP found in other epidemiologic investigations; the prevalence of glaucoma, however, seems to be rather high.

Genome-wide association study and meta-analysis of intraocular pressure

“…In summary, our results contribute to the growing evidence that the complex physiological trait of IOP is associated with common DNA variants in multiple loci, in agreement with recent GWAS results (van Koolwijk et al 2012) and past heritability estimates (Giuffre et al 1995; Qureshi et al 1996; Leske et al 1997; Hashemi et al 2005; Fukuoka et al 2008; Wong et al 2009; Freeman et al 2013). Additional studies are needed to examine the effect of these biomarkers in other populations, especially those of African ancestry for whom POAG has higher prevalence and severity than in Caucasians.…”

Cost-effective evaluation of the glaucoma suspect

“…Ocular hypertension, defined as an intraocular pressure greater than 21 mmHg, is the primary modifiable risk factor for glaucoma. Approximately 4-7% of the population over the age of 40 years has ocular hypertension [23,24], while around 2% develop glaucoma each year according to the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) [25,26]. Both OHTS and the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial (EMGT) found that early IOP reduction delays or prevents progression of disease.…”

“…The total costs for the study period of identifying a normal patient was $200, an ocular hypertensive patient $7100, a POAG suspect $1800, and a definite POAG patient $9200 (converted from Euros using a 2006 exchange rate) [7]. Further, population-based studies [23,24] show that ocular hypertensive patients are younger and more prevalent than those with POAG in most populations. Based on data from the Austrian study, therefore, population-wide screening for ocular hypertension alone may not be cost-effective from a societal perspective.…”

Intraocular pressure

“…[216][217][218][219][220][221][222][223] Patients with glaucoma have much wider swings of IOP that can reach 30 mmHg or even 50 mmHg in rare cases. 221,[224][225][226][227][228] In general, normal, open-angle glaucoma and normal-pressure glaucoma patients have their peak in the morning with the nadir in the afternoon. However, some individuals peak in the afternoon or evening, and others follow no consistent pattern.…”

“…196,228,[254][255][256] This phenomenon has been attributed to changes in the number of hours of light and to alterations of atmospheric pressure. 196,228,[254][255][256] This phenomenon has been attributed to changes in the number of hours of light and to alterations of atmospheric pressure.…”