Clinical profile, risk factors and visual outcome of secondary glaucoma in rural patients attending a tertiary care centre in Central India

Purpose: To study the clinical profile, risk factors and surgical outcome of secondary glaucoma patients in rural-based tertiary care hospital.Methods: A prospective study was done in the Ophthalmology department of an academic institute in Central India. After institutional ethical approval and informed consent, all secondary glaucoma patients were included for one year. Detailed history, demographic profile, and glaucoma workup findings were noted. Depending on the etiology, patients were managed medically or surgically. Visual outcome was recorded at the end of 6 weeks. The statistical analysis was done using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s Chi-square test.Results: The hospital-based prevalence of secondary glaucoma was found to be 45 per 10000 patients. There were 124 secondary glaucoma patients with a mean age of 53.98 ± 17.32 years. Mean intraocular pressure (IOP) was found to be 34.21 ± 8.22 mmHg. The major risk factors were lens-induced glaucoma (28.22%), pseudoexfoliation (14.52%), corneal pathology (11.29%) and neovascular glaucoma (10.48%). The duration of the presentation showed a statistically significant association with visual improvement (p < 0.001). The secondary glaucoma eyes with a duration less than one-month had significantly better visual improvement (73.68%).Conclusions: Lens induced glaucoma and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma are the two most common causes of avoidable blindness in developing countries like India. Most of the patients had poor vision even after prompt treatment due to late presentation. Early diagnosis and management can prevent irreversible blindness due to secondary glaucoma.