Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 121, Issue 7, July 2014, Pages 1370-1376
Ophthalmology

Original article
Predictors for Incidence of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma in a South Indian Population: The Chennai Eye Disease Incidence Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2014.01.014Get rights and content

Objective

To determine the 6-year incidence of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and its associated predictors.

Design

Population-based cohort study.

Participants

A total of 4316 subjects without POAG at baseline who were 40 years of age and older from a south Indian population.

Methods

Participants were examined at baseline and after a 6-year interval. Detailed ophthalmic examination included applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, pachymetry, optic disc evaluation, and automated perimetry. Glaucoma was defined using the International Society of Geographical and Epidemiological Ophthalmology Classification. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the baseline risk factors that could predict the incident POAG.

Main Outcome Measures

Six-year incidence of POAG and its associated risk factors.

Results

In 6 years, incident POAG developed in 129 subjects (2.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4–3.4; male-to-female ratio, 65:64). Baseline age was a risk factor. In reference to the group 40 to 49 years of age, the incidence increased from 2.3 (95% CI, 1.4–3.7) for the group 50 to 59 years of age to 3.5 (95% CI, 2.2–5.7) for the group 60 to 69 years of age (P <0.001). Other baseline risk predictors were urban residence (odds ratio [OR], 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1–2.2; P = 0.01), higher intraocular pressure (IOP; OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.5–2.6 per 10 mmHg; P <0.001), myopia (OR, 1.7; 95%, CI, 1.1–2.5; P <0.001), and axial length (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0–2.2 per millimeter; P = 0.03). Thinner corneas with higher IOP at baseline had the highest incidence of POAG. In 80% of the urban population and 100% of the rural population, incident glaucoma was previously undetected.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of this population demonstrated incident POAG. The baseline risk factors could help in identifying those at highest risk of disease.

Section snippets

Study Population

The methodology of and the prevalence of POAG from the Chennai Glaucoma Study were reported previously.16, 17, 18 In summary, the Chennai Glaucoma Study was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted to measure the prevalence of glaucoma in a rural and urban population in southern India. The study cohort consisted of 9600 subjects (rural-to-urban ratio, 4800:4800) 40 years of age or older and was carried out from 2001 through 2004. From the cohort, 7774 subjects (rural-to-urban ratio,

Results

At the baseline prevalence study, 7774 subjects were examined. We could not contact 1752 subjects (rural-to-urban ratio, 877:875) who had migrated with no forwarding address. Of the 6022 subjects (rural-to-urban ratio, 3047:2975) who could be contacted, information indicated that 590 participants had died. The numbers of eligible subjects were 5432 and 4421 (rural-to-urban ratio, 2510:1911), and they were examined at the base hospital. The response rate for this study was 81.3%. The reasons for

Discussion

The Chennai Eye Disease Incidence Study is the first prospective, longitudinal study from India that reports the incidence of POAG from a large cohort of rural and urban dwellers from southern India. The 6-year crude incidence of POAG was 2.9% and age and gender adjusted incidence was 2.4%. The associated baseline risk factors that could predict incident POAG were older age, urban location, higher IOP, myopia (SEQ, <−0.50 D), and axial length. The risk of incident POAG with higher baseline IOP

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    Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.

    Supported by Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation, Chennai, India.

    Both authors (Lingam Vijaya, MS, and Ronnie George, MS) contributed equally as first authors.

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