Abstract
Purpose :
To compare the rate of glaucoma-related diagnoses in patients with branch retinal vein occlusions (BRVOs) or central retinal vein occlusions (CRVOs) with the rate in patients without retinal vein occlusions (RVOs).
Methods :
Patients with RVOs were identified from billing records from 2016 to 2020. These were compared to a reference group of patients with bilateral dry eye syndrome, age- and gender-matched 2:1 to the patients with RVOs. Patients were further classified by subtype of glaucoma. Records of patients without known glaucoma-related diagnoses were evaluated for potential underdiagnosis, utilizing criteria of intraocular pressure (IOP) ≥22mmHg and/or cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) ≥0.6 and/or CDR difference between eyes ≥0.2.
Results :
643 patients were identified with RVOs, including 376 patients with BRVOs and 278 patients with CRVOs. Glaucoma-related diagnoses were significantly more common in patients with RVOs compared with a reference group (9.8% versus 5.4%, p<0.001). The rate of diagnosed, open-angle glaucoma was significantly greater in patients with BRVOs (4.0%) and CRVOs (4.7%) compared with a reference group (1.7%, p<0.001). By contrast, suspicion for open-angle glaucoma was similar between patients with RVOs compared with the reference group (3.9% versus 2.9%, p=0.235). However, patients with BRVOs (28.6%) and CRVOs (33.3%) were more likely to have clinical findings associated with glaucoma risk compared with the reference group (18.2%, p<0.001).
Conclusions :
Patients with RVOs have higher rates of diagnosed glaucoma when compared with a reference group. By contrast, RVO patients with clinical findings associated with glaucoma risk are often not coded as glaucoma suspects.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.