Glaucoma In Singapore: Steady But Often Undiagnosed

Although the prevalence of glaucoma in Singapore has not changed over the last decade, a high proportion of previously undiagnosed disease suggests a need for greater public awareness.

AsianScientist (May 20, 2015) – A study of Chinese adults in Singapore suggests the prevalence of glaucoma, a disease of the eye that can result in blindness, was 3.2 percent, with no difference from a previous study conducted in 1997, according to research published online in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Singapore has a diverse population consisting of three major ethnicities, of which the Chinese predominate. Glaucoma is a major public health challenge in an aging population and a previous study reported the prevalence and risk factors of glaucoma in the Singapore Chinese in 1997.

Dr. Aung Tin and colleagues at the Singapore National Eye Center looked at prevalence and risk factors among Singapore Chinese and compared the results with those of the earlier study. The authors selected 3,353 Chinese adults (with an average age of 59.7 years old and 50.4 percent women) from the southwestern part of Singapore, who were examined at a single tertiary care research institute from 2009 through 2011.

The authors report that of the 3,353 participants, 134 (4 percent) had glaucoma, including primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in 57 (1.7 percent), primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) in 49 (1.5 percent) and secondary glaucoma in 28 (0.8 percent). Of the 134 patients with glaucoma, 114 (85.1 percent) were unaware of their diagnosis, according to the results.

The study found the prevalence (age-standardized) of glaucoma was 3.2 percent; 1.4 percent for POAG; and 1.2 percent for PACG. The prevalence of blindness caused by secondary glaucoma was 14.3 percent, followed by 10.2 percent for PACG and 8.8 percent for POAG, the study found.

“We report a high proportion of previously undiagnosed disease, suggesting the need to increase public awareness of this potentially blinding condition,” the study concludes.

While the findings did not find a difference in the prevalence of glaucoma, the fact that patients were unaware that they were diagnosed with it has cause for concern. Healthcare reforms and better education of glaucoma among the population could perhaps raise the awareness of glaucoma in Singapore.

The article can be found at: Baskaran et al. (2015) The Prevalence And Types Of Glaucoma In An Urban Chinese Population: The Singapore Chinese Eye Study.

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Source: JAMA Network; Photo: Elizabeth Hahn/Flickr/CC.
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