Abstract
Purpose: :
To establish and maintain a registry of Korean patients with glaucoma from Konkuk University Medical Center in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The database will provide a rough estimate of epidemiology of glaucoma in Korea and an opportunity for research.
Methods: :
Using a custom designed form, we gather multiple variables such as: age, gender, type of glaucoma, visual fields defects, cup/disc ratio, glaucoma surgical history, and glaucoma medications type and number.
Results: :
Out of estimated 2,000 patients, features of 1391 (2686 eyes) are shown in the table 1. The most common type of glaucoma of Korean patients was glaucoma suspects, seen in 1614 (60.01%) eyes followed by normal tension glaucoma, NTG, 570 (21.22%) eyes, primary open-angle glaucoma, POAG, 248 ( 9.23%) eyes, narrow angle glaucoma 72 (2.68%) eyes. Of the patients with glaucoma suspects (1614 eyes), had suspicious disc in 894 (55.39%) eyes, and increased intraocular pressure in 100 (6.29%) and strong family history in 84 (5.20%) eyes.
Conclusions: :
This registry provides a unique opportunity to study the prevalence of glaucoma in a racially homogenous population of Korea. Glaucoma suspects (60.01%) comprised the most common group and the diagnosis was based on elevated ocular pressure, suspicious discs and/or visual fields or strong family history of glaucoma.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence