Abstract
Purpose :
The purpose of this study is to determine if CH is correlated with glaucoma severity or other clinical and demographic information in a one-time measurement of CH done in a glaucoma outpatient clinic.
Methods :
A prospective cross-sectional study involving 210 eyes diagnosed with various stages of POAG or glaucoma suspect (GS) was conducted. CH was measured at the end of routine patient visits using an Ocular Response Analyzer (ORA). Data on IOP, visual field index (VFI), central corneal thickness (CCT), current medications for POAG, age, gender, and race was also collected. Rank correlation and ANOVA testing was performed.
Results :
The average CH was 9.55 + 1.72 mm Hg in GS patients, 9.21 + 1.30 in mild POAG patients, 9.22 + 1.35 mm Hg in moderate POAG patients, and 8.68 + 1.13 mm Hg in severe POAG patients. There is a general trend of eyes with more severe stages of glaucoma having lower CH measurements, however, the only statistically significant difference (p = 0.004) was found between GS and severe POAG. CH was negatively correlated with the number of medications for glaucoma (r = -0.49, p < 0.001). CH was not correlated with with age (r = -0.15, p = 0.04) or CCT (r = -.26, p = 0.0001). African American patients had a mean CH measurement 1.06 mm Hg lower than white patients (p = 0.002) and 1.00 mm Hg lower than Hispanic patients (p < 0.001).The results of this study suggests that lower CH is correlated with more severe stage of glaucoma. The negative correlation between CH and number of medications used for glaucoma also suggests that patients with lower CH measurements require more aggressive treatment to prevent the progression of POAG. More data collection and statistical analyses must be performed to make further determinations about the relationship between CH and POAG stages.
Conclusions :
This study adds to a growing body of literature that suggests that a lower CH measurement is an important risk factor for more severe stages of glaucoma and more rapid glaucoma progression. Clinicians may use CH as an adjunct predictive measurement to guide their clinical management of primary open-angle glaucoma.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.