Abstract
Purpose: :
To study the prevalence of gonioscopic pathology in a South Indian population.
Methods: :
All participants of the Chennai Glaucoma Study, a population based glaucoma prevalence study among those 40 years and older, underwent a comprehensive eye evaluation including visual acuity measurement, intraocular pressure testing, 4 mirror gonioscopy and a dilated optic disc and retinal evaluation. Gonioscopic abnormalities were recorded. Angle width and degree of pigmentation was compared for different age groups and gender.
Results: :
Gonioscopy could be performed in at least one eye of 7760 persons. 1135(14.6%) had some anomaly/pathology detected in the angle. Six hundred and eighty four (9.74%) of 7021 phakic right eyes and 688/7096 (9.7%) phakic left eyes were classified as primary angle closure suspects with or without peripheral anterior synechiae or glaucoma. Peripheral anterior synechiae were seen in 130 (1.9%) phakic eyes, 137(29.9%) pseudophakic and 137(50.7%) aphakic right eyes. One hundred and thirty one (1.8%) phakic, 124(30.2%)pseudophakic and 124(52%) aphakic left eyes also had peripheral anterior synechiae. For phakic right eyes the mean angle width decreased with increasing age for both males and females. Females had significantly narrower mean angle grades in all age groups (p<0.02) except the above 70 age group where the difference was not statistically significant. Angle pigment in phakic right eyes showed an increasing trend with age. Males had greater angle pigmentation than females in all except the 50 - 59 age group.
Conclusions: :
Substantial angle pathology can be missed if routine gonioscopy is not performed in an at risk population.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence