(28) Treatment Rates for Glaucoma and Intraocular Hypertension in The United Kingdom, 2000-2019

Friday, August 26, 2022

8:00 AM – 6:00 PM CEST

Location: Hall C

Publication Number: 359

Presenting Author(s)

Luis G. Velez-Nandayapa, MD
– PhD Student in Pharmacoepidemiology, University of Basel, University of Basel, Z�rich, Z�rich, Switzerland

Co-Author(s)

Laura Eggenschwiler, MD
– Augenärztin, Vista Augenklinik Binningen, Vista Augenklinik Binningen, Switzerland
Susan Jick, DSc
– Director, Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Lexington, MA, United States
Christoph Meier, Prof Dr
– Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, Switzerland
Claudia Becker, PhD
– University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Background:
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. To the best of our knowledge, treatment incidence rates (TIR) and treatment prevalence (TP) of glaucoma and intraocular hypertension (GLC-IOH) have not been previously quantified in a large population sample in the United Kingdom (UK).

Objective:
To quantify the number of patients with treatment for glaucoma (GLC) and intraocular hypertension (IOH) in the UK.

Methods:
Using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), GOLD, we calculated crude and age-standardized treatment incidence rates (AS_TIR) as well as treatment prevalence for GLC-IOH from 2000 to 2019. We assessed person-time of all patients at risk of treatment for GLC-IOH and the number of incident cases with treatment for GLC-IOH, stratified by age, sex, year of diagnosis, and region. We defined cases with treatment for GLC-IOH as individuals with at least two documented prescriptions of antiglaucoma medication or glaucoma surgery.

Results:
We identified 107,215 incident cases with treatment for GLC-IOH in 79.2 million person-years (py) from 2000 to 2019. The AS-TIR per 100,000 py (95%CI) for GLC-IOH remained fairly stable during this period: 123.66 (120.45-126.88) to 142.11 (138.71-145.51) cases per 100,000 py. The treatment incidence rates sharply increased with increasing age, with highest incidences at 80-89 years (average 606.77 (598.78-614.75) per 100,000 py). We observed a preponderance of female cases starting from the age of 70 years. Treatment incidence rates for GLC-IOH were highest in London, England and Wales and 20 to 30% lower in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Treatment prevalence for GLC-IOH increased by 32.7% from 1.19% (1.12-1.27%) to 1.58% (1.50-1.67%) during the study period. The treatment prevalence was highest in the elderly: 9.4% in those over 80 years, and almost 12% in the age group >90 years had treatment for GLC-IOH.

Conclusions:
In our large nationwide study of treatment rates for GLC-IOH in the UK, the overall treatment incidence rates for GLC-IOH remained fairly stable from the year 2000 to 2019. However, the treatment prevalence increased by one third. Treatment incidence as well as prevalence of were different across regions of the UK.