Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the disease severity in glaucoma patients who presented for the first time to a tertiary care university unit and referral center in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Methods: :
Retrospective analysis of data of patients who were referred to the Glaucoma service at Santa Casa de São Paulo, Brazil in 2007. Demographic data, as well as, diagnosis, visual acuity, cup-to-disc ratio and intraocular pressure of 321 patients were collected.
Results: :
52.3% of patients presented visual acuity less than or equal to 20/200 and 77,2% presented cup-to-disc ratio between 0.8 and 1.0 in the worst eye;13.4% of patients were considered legally blind (In Brazil, patients who present the best corrected visual acuity less than or equal to 20/200 in the best eye are considered legally blind). Primary open angle glaucoma (54%)was the most frequent type of glaucoma found in our study.
Conclusions: :
A considerable rate of patients presented to our service with the advanced form of glaucoma. Strategies that create conditions for early diagnosis of this disease are needed to reduce the incidence of blindness caused by glaucoma in the Brazilian population.
Keywords: visual acuity • intraocular pressure • low vision