Study uncovers prevalence, types of glaucoma among Malay population

New data analysis from the Singapore Malay Eye Study has identified a 3.4% prevalence of glaucoma among a large population of Singaporean Malay adults that is comparable to the prevalence of the disease among Singaporean ethnic Chinese and other racial and ethnic groups in Asia. In addition, most of these glaucoma cases had previously gone undetected.

Tien Yin Wong, FRCSE, PhD, and colleagues examined the prevalence and types of glaucoma in a population-based, cross-sectional study of 3,280 Malay adults aged 40 to 80 years. All participants underwent standardized ophthalmic examinations, and those who were suspected of having glaucoma also underwent visual field examination, gonioscopy and repeat applanation tonometry.

Of the participants, 150 (4.6%) had already been diagnosed with glaucoma, which translated into an age- and sex-standardized glaucoma prevalence of 3.4%, the authors said.

After adjusting for age and sex, the investigators identified a 2.5% prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma, a 0.12% prevalence of primary angle-closure glaucoma and a 0.61% prevalence of secondary glaucoma.

However, only 12 (8%) of the participants with diagnosed glaucoma had a previous known history of the disease. In addition, 27 participants (18%) had low vision and 15 (10%) were blind, according to the study.

"More than 90% of persons with glaucoma did not have a known history of glaucoma, suggesting the need for public health measures and research into appropriate and cost-effective screening strategies to detect this major cause of blindness," the study authors said in the September issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.