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Abstract
Ninety-four patients from a large glaucoma clinic toere interviewed in an endeavor to discover and quantitate inter-relationships between the clinic patient and his disease with special attention directed toward factors causing visual loss. Fifty-seven per cent of patients had visual acuity of less than 6/30 in one eye, and 59 per cent of visual fields were limited to 5° or less as determined with a 3 mm. white test object at one meter. Thirty-one per cent of the patients stated they failed to use their medications as ordered. Correlation coefficients between 80 variables were calculated. Patients toho were unaware of the nature of their disease tended to use their medicine imprecisely (P <0.001). There was no association between incorrect use of medication and other parameters such as age, sex, race, income, number of dependents, level of education, fear of blindness, and self-sufficiency. Patients with normal vision tended to neglect their medications more than patients whose sight was impaired. If visual loss in glaucoma clinic patients is to be reduced, physicians must make sure that patients are cognizant of the character of their affiiction.