Abstract
Purpose:
Consistent with ongoing glaucoma research, our preliminary study showed higher than expected prevalence of glaucoma related disease at Drexel Eye Physicians (DEP) which serves predominately inner city, African- American population. In this study we propose to further investigate reasons for this occurrence including any changes in clinical presentation of the disease, medication patterns and compliance; as well as presence of other co-morbidities such as hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM) and systemic treatments that could influence glaucoma course.
Methods:
Retrospective chart review examining glaucoma related diagnosis codes of all new patients seen DEP in past two years. Out of 5800 gender, age and race/ethnicity diverse beneficiaries,1238 unique patients with glaucoma related diagnosis codes were selected. Patients were diagnosed with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) based on standardized criteria used by the Rotterdam Study and Foster and associates.
Results:
Our preliminary data show higher than expected prevalence of glaucoma related disease in diverse population (21.3%). Out of those patients, a majority (64.2%) are African-American; with similar gender distribution. 59.8% of investigated patients had HTN and 11.8% were on treatment with systemic beta-blockers. Mean maximal IOP in patients diagnosed with POAG was 20.5 (right) and 20.9 (left), in patients with HTN 18.9 and 19.5, while in patients with HTN on systemic beta-blockers it was 17.5 and 17.9. Additionally, 34.3% of investigated patient were also had DM-2; mean maximal IOP was 18.7 and 18.6 . Finally, 29% of African-American patients with glaucoma failed to follow, which was higher than any other race group.
Conclusions:
Preliminary data of our chart review study confirm a higher than expected prevalence of glaucoma related disease in diverse population. Patients with glaucoma have a higher than expected incidence of hypertension, and further study would be useful in examining the casuality of this relationship. Lastly, the poor follow-up is concerning, and further study is needed to identify and remove barriers to health care in order to better manage this potentially blinding condition.