Open-angle glaucoma patients of African descent have more functional progression after 4 years compared to European descent patients while demonstrating similar structural progression

Abstract

Purpose : To examine differences in relationships between structural and functional progression in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients of African descent (AD) and European descent (ED) after 4 years.

Methods : 112 patients with OAG (AD-29; ED-83) were assessed at baseline and every 6 months for 4 years for functional progression by 24-2 Swedish interactive threshold algorithm visual field (VF) (Humphrey), and for structural progression by optical coherence tomography. Functional progression was defined as 2 consecutive visits with mean deviation decrease ≥2 and/or advanced glaucoma intervention study (AGIS) increase ≥2 compared to baseline. Structural progression was defined as two consecutive visits with RNFL thickness decrease by at least 8% and/or horizontal or vertical cup/disk ratio increase by at least 0.2 compared to baseline.

Results : Baseline IOP (mmHg) for patients of AD was 16.85 (95% CI=14.92, 18.78) and was 15.64 (14.21, 17.07) for ED, with no significant difference between groups. Functional progression occurred in 37.93% of patients of AD (11 of 29) and 28.91% of patients of ED (24 of 83). Structural progression occurred in 62.09% of patients of AD (18 of 29) and 68.67% of patients of ED (57 of 83). Overall, significantly more (p<0.05) patients exhibited structural progression compared to functional progression; with no significant difference between groups (p>0.05).

Conclusions : Functional progression occurred more frequently in OAG patients of AD compared to ED despite similar baseline IOP. In all patients, structural progression occurred significantly more than functional progression.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.