Clinical Profile of Patients with Primary Glaucoma in Tertiary Care Centre

Aim: To study the clinical profile of patients with primary glaucoma in a tertiary care hospital. Method: In a descriptive study of 130 patients, detailed family history, history of systemic illness and previous treatment in past was noted in detailed. Detail ophthalmic examination with visual acuity, anterior segment examination with slit lamp, intraocular pressure measurement with applanation tonometry, fundus examination and perimetry of every patient was done. Result: A total of 130 patients were examined the prevalence of glaucoma was 2.92%. The risk factors and their relevance to open angle glaucoma as compared to narrow angle glaucoma, taking recourse to multiple logistic regression. The Odds Ratio (OR) for age was obtained as 0.978 [95% CI: 0.937, 1.021], indicating that the odds are unchanged with the unit change in the age (p=0.304). For gender, with male as reference, OR for females was 1.676 [95% CI: 0.645, 4.355], indicating that the odds in favour of open angle decreases for females as compared to males (p=0.289). Further, the odds of open angle glaucoma with the presence of hypermetropia decreased with OR 0.098 [95% CI: 0.031, 0.311] (p=0.00). The presence of myopia increased the odds in favour of open angle glaucoma 4.785 [95% CI: 1.497, 15.295] times, which was statistically significant (p=0.008). The presence of systemic illness like hypertension and diabetes increased the risk of open angle glaucoma with OR of 1.694 [95% CI: 0.608, 4.719] and 1.017 [95% CI: 0.288, 3.592] respectively. The correlation of pretreatment IOP and visual field defect was statistically significant for PACG and not with POAG the correlation of VCDR and visual field defect was statistically significant for both POAG and PACG.9 eyes were blind in POAG and 17 eyes were blind in PACG. Conclusion: Patient with family history of glaucoma; history of DM, HTN, myopia, hypermetropia; and patient above 40 years of age should be screened for glaucoma for early detection and prompt treatment. Awareness of glaucoma is needed in the country as it is one of the leading causes of blindness .