Are you receiving optimal treatment for your glaucoma or other eye condition? A study in Ophthalmology shows that often women and younger people are less likely to get glaucoma treatment than men.
Most forms of glaucoma are chronic conditions that cannot be cured. Open-angle glaucoma can often be treated safely and effectively with medication or surgery, but lifelong use of medication is almost always necessary. Decisions on when to start treatment are based on the amount of optic nerve damage and visual field loss, as well as risk factors such as elevated intraocular pressure, increasing age, and black or ethnic background.
Acute closed-angle glaucoma is a medical emergency. If you have symptoms of closed-angle glaucoma (severe pain in the eye, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, and rainbow-colored halos around lights), contact your ophthalmologist immediately.
Unfortunately not everyone receives the same level of treatment for glaucoma, according to a study in the journal Ophthalmology (Volume 112, page 1494). The study observes that women and younger people are much less likely to receive glaucoma treatment than older men.
Researchers looked at who received treatment with either surgery or medication from a cohort of patients that included 35,754 people suspected of having glaucoma, 5,265 diagnosed with glaucoma, and 2,633 with signs of early glaucoma.
What they found was that treatment in people with glaucoma or suspected of having glaucoma was initiated less often in women, especially if they were younger and not followed-up at their doctor’s office. Other variables associated with greater likelihood of treatment were having a diagnosis of glaucoma and the region of the country where the patients were treated.
Women were 24% less likely to be treated for glaucoma than men, and younger people of both sexes were far less likely to be treated than older people. Since the reasons for the disparity in treatment are unclear, the authors note that understanding the sources of variation in treatment will improve treatment for people with glaucoma or suspected of having glaucoma.
