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The Epidemiology of Glaucoma

  • Chapter
Book cover Glaucoma

Part of the book series: Essentials in Ophthalmology ((ESSENTIALS))

  • Glaucoma is second to cataract as a leading cause of global blindness and is the leading cause of irreversible visual loss.

  • In 2002, 37 million individuals were blind worldwide, with glaucoma accounting for 12.3% of these individuals.

  • By the year 2020 it is estimated that there will be almost 80 million people in the world with open-angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma. The majority of these individuals will have open-angle glaucoma. Of those with ACG, it is predicted that 70% will be women and 87% will be Asian.

  • Bilateral blindness from glaucoma is projected to affect 8.4 million individuals worldwide by 2010 and greater than 11 million by 2020. Globally, glaucoma is a significant cause of vision loss that disproportionately affects women and Asians.

  • Risk factors for open-angle glaucoma include increased age, African ethnicity, family history, increased intraocular pressure, myopia, and decreased corneal thickness.

  • Risk factors for angle closure glaucoma include Inuit and Asian ethnicity, hyperopia, female sex, shallow anterior chamber, short axial length, small corneal diameter, steep corneal curvature, shallow limbal chamber depth, and thick, relatively anteriorly positioned lens.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CB 7040, 5109 Bioinformatics Building, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7040, USA

    Annette Giangiacomo

  2. Jules Stein Eye Institute/UCLA, 100 Stein Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Anne Louise Coleman

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  1. Annette Giangiacomo
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  2. Anne Louise Coleman
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Wuerzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 11, 97080, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Franz Grehn MD (Professor and Chairman) (Professor and Chairman)

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, 10 Kirkham Street, Rm K301, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Robert Stamper MD (Director of Glaucoma Service) (Director of Glaucoma Service)

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Giangiacomo, A., Coleman, A.L. (2009). The Epidemiology of Glaucoma. In: Grehn, F., Stamper, R. (eds) Glaucoma. Essentials in Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69475-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69475-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69472-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69475-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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