Prevalence of glaucoma suspects and pattern of intra-ocular pressure (IOP) distribution in Ahoada-East local government area of Rivers State

Abstract

Background: Glaucoma is the commonest cause of irreversible blindness in the world. Some glaucoma patients start out as glaucoma suspects for years. Aim: To determine the prevalence of glaucoma suspects and pattern of intra-ocular pressure distribution in glaucoma suspects. Methods: This survey was carried out in Ahoada-East local government area (LGA) of Rivers State. The study took place in 6 communities in the LGA. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the study sample which consisted of 960 persons drawn from the 6 communities. Ocular examination was carried out and consisted of visual acuity, basic eye examination and direct funduscopy. Subjects with pathologically cupped discs or cup/disc asymmetry of ≥ 0.2 had their intra-ocular pressures (IOP) measured. Data was recorded primarily on the WHO/PBL eye examination form and entered into Epi-Info version 6 for analysis. Results: A total of 34 subjects who had vertical cup/disc ratio > 0.5 had their intra-ocular pressures measured. Of this, 23 were glaucoma suspects. There were 15 males (65.2%) and 8 females (34.8%) and those aged 40-79 years made up 69.6% of the study sample. Most eyes (97.8%) had normal intra-ocular pressures (10-21mmHg) while one had an IOP of 8 mmHg. Out of 866 subjects, 23 were glaucoma suspects giving a prevalence of 2.7%. Conclusion: Since glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world, the availability of data on glaucoma suspects, the type of glaucoma they have and the age groups most at risk would facilitate early diagnosis and follow up thus preventing unnecessary blindness from glaucoma. Keywords: Glaucoma suspects, Prevalence, IOP distribution