The Burden and Clinical Features of Neovascular Glaucoma in a Major Tertiary Care Center in China.

Prcis: This research presents the burden and clinical characteristics of NVG in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, employing the most extensive sample size and the longest uninterrupted temporal duration so far, which may provide a theoretical reference for the effective prevention and diagnosis of NVG.

Purpose: To summarize the burden and clinical characteristics of neovascular glaucoma (NVG) in a major tertiary care center in China.

Methods: The clinical data of NVG patients in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) between 2012 and 2021 were collected retrospectively, including their age, sex, the affected eye, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), clinical stage and etiology.

Results: In this study, we included 1877 eyes of 1749 patients who developed NVG, with a 2.01:1 ratio of male to female. Their mean age was 53.14±16.69 years and those aged 41-70 years (65.2%) were most affected. Monocular patients were more predominant in most of them (92.7%), while 7.3% were binocular and 1667 eyes (88.8%) were at the angle closure stage. The BCVA and IOP were 2.42±0.70 logMAR and 38.6±12.2 mm Hg, respectively. Over the decade, the number of NVG patients and the proportion of NVG patients among glaucoma patients showed an increasing trend, with annual percentage changes (APCs) of 9.1% (95% CI: 5.0%-13.3%, P =0.001) and 4.8% (95% CI: 2.2%-7.4%, P =0.003), respectively. The top 3 primary conditions were diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and retinal detachment (RD). Moreover, the APCs for the constituent ratio of DR and RVO were 4.4% (95% CI: 0.5%-8.4%, P =0.031) and -4.6% (95% CI: -8.4% to -0.7%, P =0.028), respectively. However, the first and second causes of NVG in minors (below 18 years old) were Coat's disease and ocular tumors, followed by RD and RVO in third place. The top cause of NVG in patients aged 65 years and older was RVO.

Conclusions: The burden of NVG is increasing, emphasizing the need to improve preventive strategies focusing on primary diseases such as DR, RVO, and RD, particularly the increasing proportion of DR cases and the previously underemphasized RD patients, while also highlighting the differences in primary diseases across different age groups.