Profiles and Clinical Characteristics of Newly Diagnosed Glaucoma in Urban Korea: A Multicenter Study

Purpose: To explore the clinical characteristics and profiles of newly diagnosed glaucoma subtypes in urban Korea. Methods: All newly diagnosed glaucoma patients enrolled in the participating ophthalmology outpatient clinics were included. A review of medical history including family history of glaucoma was conducted. The patients underwent completeophthalmologic examinations including visual field test. The diagnosis of glaucoma was based on the International Society ofGeographical and Epidemiological Ophthalmology criteria developed by glaucoma specialists. Results: A total of 198,671 patients visited the participating ophthalmology outpatient clinics during the study period (fromJanuary 1, 2001 to June 30, 2016), of which 5,530 (2.8%) were diagnosed with glaucoma. The mean age of the newly diagnosedglaucoma patients was 52.0 ± 17.3 years (range, 6 to 89) and 2,830 patients were male (51.2%). The mean untreated intraocularpressure and vertical cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head of newly diagnosed glaucoma eyes were 22.1 ± 10.6mmHg and 0.66 ± 0.22, respectively. The most frequently observed subtypes of glaucoma were: normal tension glaucoma(33.0%) primary open-angle glaucoma (28.4%), ocular hypertension (11.1%), chronic angle-closure glaucoma (6.8%), neovascularglaucoma (5.2%), glaucoma associated with inflammation (3.8%), acute angle-closure glaucoma (3.3%), and glaucomaassociated with aphakia or pseudophakia (2.2%). Conclusions: Normal tension glaucoma was the most frequently observed glaucoma subtype in urban ophthalmology outpatientclinics in Korea.