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 69.6of 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