Study finds high risk of pseudoexfoliation syndrome converting to glaucoma

Most patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome will progress to pseudoexfoliative glaucoma or ocular hypertension requiring treatment, a retrospective study found.

Samuel M. Jeng, MD, and colleagues reviewed the number of newly diagnosed cases of pseudoexfoliation syndrome in a study including all residents of Olmsted County, Minn., between 1976 and 1991.

Dr. Jeng and colleagues found that 318 eyes of 235 patients were diagnosed with pseudoexfoliation during the study period. Mean age was 73 years. Of these patients, 16% had treatment initiated upon diagnosis. Of those who did not have immediate treatment, the probability of having treatment started over the next 15 years was 44%, according to the study.

For patients who did not begin treatment, IOP increased 5 mm Hg or more during follow-up in 16%, and IOPs of 22 mm Hg or higher were seen in 11%, according to the study authors.

Bilateral pseudoexfoliation was seen in 25% of patients at initial diagnosis, and another 29% developed bilateral pseudoexfoliation over the 15 years follow-up, they said.

"The strongest risk factors for converting to therapy were IOP at initial diagnosis of PEX and bilateral involvement," the authors said.

The study is published in the January issue of the Journal of Glaucoma.