Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension among Indian glaucoma patients and evaluation of systemic therapy

To study the prevalence and systemic control and evaluate the adequacy of therapy of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) in glaucoma patients visiting a tertiary care eye facility at a university hospital. Consecutive cases with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) or primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) attending the outpatient services were evaluated for the presence of DM and HT and any systemic/ocular medications being taken were recorded. Of 615 glaucoma cases evaluated, 281 (45.7 %) were POAG and 334 (54.3 %) were PACG. The mean age was 58.19 ± 10.8 years with males comprising 60.5 % of the study group. Two hundred and ninety-two (47.5 %) glaucoma patients had HT and 181 (29.4 %) had DM, including 97 (15.8 %) patients who had both. One hundred and thirty-three (47.3 %) patients with POAG and 159 (47.6 %) patients with PACG had HT. Ninety-seven (34.5 %) POAG patients and 84 (25.1 %) PACG patients were diabetics. One hundred and sixty-one (55.1 %) HT patients had blood pressure above control levels and 88 (48.6 %) diabetics had uncontrolled blood sugars. Twenty-eight (9.6 %) patients with HT were found to be taking combined systemic and topical β-blocker therapy. A large majority of adult glaucoma patients had concurrent systemic disease, which was not adequately controlled. Patients were using systemic medications with known interactions with ocular hypotensive medications. This study highlights the unmet need for better coordination between ophthalmologists and physicians to improve the overall health of glaucoma patients.