Abstract
Purpose :
Recent data suggests that vitreous gel integrity is critical in maintaining oxygen tension and may play a role in glaucoma pathogenesis. Additionally, the risk of developing glaucoma increases with age. This study aims to test the hypothesis that the presence of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), an age-related eye disease surrogate with its degenerative changes in the gel, support and effect on the optic nerve head, would result in higher glaucoma risk.
Methods :
Retrospective chart review from 2011-2015 was conducted at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton glaucoma clinic (n=5,965). Those with narrow angles, visual acuity less than 20/200 and age greater than 40 were excluded. PVD/glaucoma diagnosis were based on standard definitions and diagnostic criteria. Data of 282 eyes were abstracted from 238 charts. Four groups were identified: PVD only (n=83), PVD/glaucoma (n=82), glaucoma only (n=73) and control (n=44). Intraocular pressure (IOP) and cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) were used as glaucoma risk measures. SPSS Software v20 analysis was completed to compare glaucoma risk factors between groups.
Results :
Comparison of mean IOP between glaucoma only (18.26±5.29) and PVD/glaucoma (19.60±6.65) groups showed no significant difference (p=0.189). PVD/glaucoma group had significantly higher IOP compared to the PVD only group (15.92±2.97, p<0.001). There was no significance difference between mean IOP of control (16.18±3.41) and PVD only groups (p=0.420). The mean CDR difference between glaucoma only (0.72±0.15) and PVD/glaucoma (0.67±0.20) groups was also insignificant (p=0.189). The CDR was also significantly higher in PVD/glaucoma group compared to PVD only group (0.42±0.17, p<0.001). The control (0.39±0.17) and PVD only groups did not have significantly different CDR (p=0.420).
Conclusions :
Diagnosis of glaucoma in PVD eyes resulted in higher mean IOP and CDR values as expected. Presence of PVD was not related to higher risk in glaucoma eyes. Eyes with only PVD did not have higher glaucoma risk than control eyes. As a result, no clinical correlation was found between the presence of PVD and glaucoma risk. However, limitations were identified in the chart review method and a future prospective study will be more suitable in determining the relationship.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.