Prevalence Of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma in Diabetic Patients

Background: Primary open angle glaucoma is the commonest form of glaucoma accounting for atleast half of all the glaucomas. It is also known as chronic open angle glaucoma and chronic simple glaucoma. It is typically asymptomatic until significant visual field loss has occurred. Patients usually present with significant visual field loss in one eye and advanced disease in the other. Diabetes Mellitus is one of the risk factors for POAG. Objectives: • To study the hospital based prevalence of POAG among the diabetic patients attending Tertiary Eye Hospital camp. • To screen all diabetics for glaucoma. Methods: Four hundred diabetic patients, both insulin dependent and non insulin dependent, above forty years of age, attending Tertiary Eye Hospital, who came to Department of Ophthalmology through camp, between September 2016 and May2017, were screened for the detection of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma. Results: The results of the study show a clear evidence of an excess of POAG in diabetic population, which was 7.53 % .The prevalence among males was slightly more (4.41 %) as compared to females (3.12%). At present study, the mean age of POAG among males was 54.5 yrs and 50.0 yrs among females. This study show that the prevalence of POAG and the duration of DM was proportional and that the mean blood glucose level was higher in diabetics with POAG.