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Gender, age, geography major determinants of glaucoma treatment
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Younger patients, female gender and geographic location play a large part in whether a patient receives glaucoma treatment, a large retrospective cohort study found.
David S. Friedman, MD, MPH, and colleagues retrospectively reviewed data on 35,754 people diagnosed as glaucoma suspects, 5,265 diagnosed with glaucoma and 2,633 coded as having cupping of the optic disc. All subjects were enrolled in a large managed-care organization at the time of the study.
A logistic regression model adjusting for glaucoma status, age, region, clinician seen at initial visit and index date found women were less likely to undergo treatment than men. Treatment was defined as topical ocular hypotensives, argon laser trabeculectomy or surgery.
Aside from gender, factors associated with a greater likelihood of treatment were glaucoma diagnosis, older age, geographic location and a longer follow-up.
The study is published in Ophthalmology.