Abstract
Purpose :
To retrospectively describe the prevalence and clinical characteristics of childhood glaucoma diagnosed over a 10-year period among patients ≤ 20 years of age who were seen at Akron Children’s Hospital (ACH) using the new classification system established by the Childhood Glaucoma Research Network (CGRN).
Methods :
Medical records of all patients 20 years of age or younger (n=110) who were seen at ACH, and were diagnosed with glaucoma between January, 2008, and September, 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Data collected included demographics (age at diagnosis, gender, family history of glaucoma), intraocular pressure (IOP), disc/cup and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, using optical coherence tomography. Clinical characteristics of each of the patients were evaluated according to the criteria established by the CGRN. Categorical distributional equivalence comparisons were performed using Pearson chi-square. p<0.05 was defined as statistically significant.
Results :
A total of 110 patients with a diagnosis of childhood glaucoma or glaucoma suspect were included in this study. Sixty four (64) % of these patients were males (p< 0.0001). The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 7.07±5.4 years. Glaucoma suspect was the most prevalent category (40%, p=0.0002), followed by glaucoma associated with non-acquired ocular condition (23%) including anterior segment anomaly, congenital cataracts or nystagmus; and glaucoma associated with non-acquired systemic disease or syndrome (14%) such as Peter’s anomaly, Sturge-Weber and Walker-Warburg syndromes. Primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) represented only 3% and all patients were male. The majority of patients with all forms of glaucoma had bilateral involvement (69%, p=0.0073). The highest baseline IOP (57 mm Hg) was reported in a patient who had glaucoma associated with Peter’s anomaly and anterior segment dysgenesis. The highest cup/disc ratio was 0.96 and the largest RNFL thickness was 123µ while the lowest was 60 µ.
Conclusions :
This study provides new classification information about glaucoma patients at a tertiary care center and will assist with future collaborative studies on childhood glaucoma.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.