Glaucoma costs vary with severity, IOP control, study finds

Earlier detection of glaucoma may provide substantial cost savings to health care systems, according to an analysis of Canadian costs. The amount of money spent caring for glaucoma varies with severity of the disease and with uncontrolled disease, the study found.

Michael Iskedjian, Bpharm, MSc, and colleagues in the PharmIdeas Research and Consulting group reviewed patient files from two tertiary care glaucoma centers to investigate the costs of glaucoma care. Patients included in the study had been diagnosed with primary open-angle glaucoma and had at least 2.5 years of follow-up. Data collected included visual field mean deviation, physician’s assessment, and resource use such as physician visits, procedures and medications. Costs, reported in 2001 Canadian dollars, were based on initial visual field mean deviation, including mild (less than 5 dB), moderate (5 to less than 12 dB) and severe (12 dB or greater) and were based on the physician’s assessment.

Of 265 patient charts included for analysis, 90 were classified as mild primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients, 91 were moderate and 84 were severe. Yearly overall costs for patients with mild POAG were $408; for patients with moderate POAG, $512; and for patients with severe POAG, $609. Overall yearly costs were $508. Differences between yearly costs were statistically significant for all three groups.

One-hundred ten patients had their glaucoma controlled through medication, 76 were uncontrolled with medication and 79 were initially uncontrolled for 12 months, then became controlled through medication. Costs for those patients in the controlled group were $423; for the uncontrolled group $594 and for the initially uncontrolled group, $542.

The study is published in the Journal of Glaucoma.