Epidemiology Of Hospitalized Patients With Glaucoma

Objective: To investigate the proportion of different types of glaucoma, distribution of genders sand ages, as well as the change, of inpatients with glaucoma, especially primary glaucoma, in the Department of Ophthalmology.Methods: 971 cases in our Department of Ophthalmology from January 1978 to December 1981 and from January 2001 to December 2002 were studied. Based on the classification of discharge diagnosis, the distributions of ages and genders in groups of patients were analyzed, as well as the constitutive proportions of each kind of glaucoma. The data were then compared between those two periods.Results: Among all hospitalized patients with glaucoma, patients with primary glaucoma constituted 81.35%. During the period January 1978 to December 1981, primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) constituted 88.7% of all primary glaucoma, while during January 2001 to December 2002 the constitutive percentage of PACG was 76.1%. The statistical examination confirms the significance of this change. Congenital glaucoma and secondary glaucoma constituted 5.05% and 13.59% of all kinds of glaucomarespectively. The statistical comparison of the proportions of these two kinds of glaucoma between January 1978 to December 1981 and January 2001 to December 2002 shows no significant change. The median ages of PACG and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) were 54 and 47.5 during January 1978 to December 1981, while they were 63 and 47 during January 2001 to December 2002 respectively.Discussion: Most of the hospitalized patients with glaucoma were patients with primary glaucoma, with PACG constituting the greater part. However, POAG seems to have risen during those years. The possible causes include changes in diagnosis, refractive errors, systemic situation, environment, and heredity, as well as social economic factors, etc.-. The rising of the median age of patients with PACG may be an effect of aging and changes in the social economic environment, whereas the level of occurrence of POAG in young patients may be related to genetic mechanisms.