Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This study uses the measurement of cornea hysteresis (CH) as a screening tool and finds the incidence of Normal Tension Glaucoma (NTG) on those patients above sixty-five in an Asian-dominant practice. This is a cross-sectional study obtained by patients in a private practice in Honolulu, Hawaii. The inclusion criteria includes sixty-five years of age or older, Iop less than twenty-one, and corneal hysteresis value less than ten tested using ORA (Ocular Response Analyzer, Reichert instruments, Depew, NY) by a single trained technician. Exclusion criteria includes a known history of glaucoma, visual acuity worse than 20/60, or sight limiting ocular or corneal disease that would preclude accurate measurements for purposes of the study. All patients that met eligibility criteria were tested for glaucoma based on cup to disc ratio, cup to disc asymmetry by fundus photo, central corneal thickness, and ocular coherence tomography (OCT). Patient demographics and pre-existing diseases were collected including age, sex, co-existing medical conditions, and previous intraocular surgery. Those with evidence of thinning of RNFL at optic nerve on OCT received a valid Humphrey visual field exam to further confirm the diagnosis of glaucoma.