Research News
Predicting glaucoma risk in patients with high eye pressure
January 2007
US researchers say that they have developed a way to identify
high-risk individuals who could most benefit from preventive treatment
for glaucoma.
The study used five key factors to detect glaucoma risk: age;
pressure inside the eye; cup/disc ratio (a measurement of the
optic nerve); thickness of the cornea; and a combination of
measurements from computerized visual field tests.
These factors help determine an individual's risk of developing
glaucoma over five years, says lead researcher Mae Gordon, a
professor in the ophthalmology department at the Washington
University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
Using these risk factors, the researchers found it was possible
to predict which patients would benefit most from
pressure-lowering treatment, and which patients would experience
little or no benefit.
Glaucoma is one of the most common causes of blindness in the
world, and affects 1 in 100 Canadians over age 40.