If annual risk is 2% for POAG, early treatment proves cost-effective

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Treatment of people who have an annual risk of developing primary open-angle glaucoma of at least 2% is likely to be cost-effective, while a management strategy of delaying treatment of people with ocular hypertension until POAG is developed may be unnecessarily conservative, one physician said here.

Steve M. Kymes, MD, investigated the cost-effectiveness of treating patients with ocular hypertension as opposed to observing them without treatment.

Dr. Kymes considered a variety of questions, including what patients want and how they view their quality of life with ocular hypertension and with the possibility of developing glaucoma. He considered the effectiveness of treating no one with ocular hypertension, treating patients with greater than 5% risk of developing POAG, treating those with greater than 2% of developing POAG and treating all patients with ocular hypertension.

“Eighty percent of the time, treating would be the best option,” Dr. Kymes said here at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.

The decision to treat, however, also depends on the patient’s attitude toward the risk of developing glaucoma and blindness, he said.