TITLE:
Prevalence and Associations of Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma in a Group of Tertiary Eye Care Facilities in Southwest Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Chizoba Onochie, Obiekwe Okoye, Adeola Onakoya, Adunola Ogunro, Kunle Hassan, Chidi Ihemedu, Tade Aribaba, Ogugua Okonkwo
KEYWORDS:
Prevalence, Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma, Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ophthalmology,
Vol.6 No.2,
May
6,
2016
ABSTRACT: Background: Globally, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible
blindness. Pseudoexfoliation glaucoma is the most common form of secondary open
angle glaucoma. Purpose: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXG) among newly
diagnosed glaucoma patients in Eye Foundation Hospital Ikeja, Guinness Eye
Center, Lagos University Teaching Hospital and Deseret Community Vision
Institute, Ijebu Imushin. Methods: This hospital-based, descriptive
cross-sectional study included newly diagnosed adult glaucoma patients at the
glaucoma clinics of three tertiary eye care centers. A study proforma
was used to obtain socio-demographic information, medical history, ocular
history and relevant findings on ocular and systemic examination. Descriptive and
comparative statistical analyses were performed. Values were considered
statistically significant where P Results: One hundred and forty adult glaucoma patients aged 60.5 ± 11.9
SD years and male to female ratio of 2:1 were examined. The prevalence of PXG
among the glaucoma patients was 16.9%. The pseudoexfoliative material (PXM) was
most commonly found on the pupil (39%). Common ocular features seen among PXG patients
were poor pupillary dilation with mydriatic agents (44%) and Sampaolesi’s line
in the anterior chamber angle (41%). A higher proportion of PXG patients than
primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients showed signs of severe glaucoma,
including severe optic disc cupping (P = 0.019) and visual field defects (P =
0.014). Hearing defects were the only significantly associated non-ocular
feature (P = 0.0005). Conclusion: The
prevalence of PXG was 16.9%. This implies that it is relatively common in Nigeria.
Hearing loss is an important non-ocular association. Careful ocular examination
of glaucoma patients is recommended to identify PXG, which runs a more severe
clinical course than POAG.