Special Commentary: Reporting Clinical Endpoints in Studies of Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery.

Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) refers to a group of procedures generally characterized by an ab interno approach, minimal trauma to ocular tissue, moderate efficacy, an excellent safety profile, and rapid recovery. The number of MIGS procedures continues to increase, and their use has become widespread among glaucoma and cataract specialists. Standardization of the methodology and reporting of clinical endpoints in MIGS investigations enhances interpretation and comparison across different studies.

A multi-cohort genome-wide association study in African ancestry individuals reveals risk loci for primary open-angle glaucoma.

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, disproportionately affects individuals of African ancestry. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for POAG in 11,275 individuals of African ancestry (6,003 cases; 5,272 controls). We detected 46 risk loci associated with POAG at genome-wide significance.

African American patient-provider communication about glaucoma vision quality-of-life.

Background/objectives: Little is known about African American patient-provider communication about glaucoma-related quality-of-life. The objectives of this study were to: (a) examine associations between patient socio-demographics and vision quality-of-life, (b) describe the extent to which eye care providers and patients discuss glaucoma-related quality-of-life, and (c) examine associations between patient and provider characteristics, whether the patient was in the intervention or usual care group, and whether the patient and provider discuss one or more glaucoma-related quality-of-life domains.

Methods: Adult African American patients with glaucoma who reported non-adherence to glaucoma medications were enrolled from three sites.

Do African American patients with glaucoma ask their eye providers the questions they have?

Purpose: The objective of this study was to describe what questions patients checked on a glaucoma question prompt list and how often patients asked the same checked questions during medical visits.

Design: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the effectiveness of a pre-visit video/glaucoma question prompt list intervention to increase African American patient question-asking during medical visits.

Methods: Adult African American patients with glaucoma and a history of non-adherence to glaucoma medications were enrolled and randomized into intervention and usual care groups from three glaucoma practices.

A Previsit Intervention's Influence on Glaucoma Topics Discussed between Black Patients and Providers.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to conduct a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a previsit glaucoma video/question prompt list intervention, and to examine the impact on how often providers educate Black patients about glaucoma and glaucoma medication topics during visits.

Design: A randomized controlled trial of a glaucoma question prompt list/video intervention.

Participants: Black patients with a diagnosis of glaucoma who are taking 1 or more glaucoma medications and report being nonadherent.

Improving Black Patient Question-Asking and Provider Education During Glaucoma Visits.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to conduct a randomized, controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a previsit glaucoma video/question prompt list intervention to increase Black patient question-asking and provider education about glaucoma and glaucoma medications during visits.

Design: A randomized, controlled trial of a glaucoma question prompt list/video intervention.

Participants: Black patients with a glaucoma diagnosis who were currently taking 1 or more glaucoma medications and reported being nonadherent.

Provider use of a participatory decision-making style with African American patients with glaucoma.

Objective: To examine whether non-adherent African American patients with glaucoma who received a question prompt list and video intervention were more likely to be given treatment options, have their input included into treatment regimens, and rate their providers as using more of a participatory decision-making style.

Methods: African American patients with glaucoma taking one or more glaucoma medications and reported being non-adherent were randomized to a pre-visit video and glaucoma question prompt list intervention or usual care.

Results: 189 African American patients with glaucoma participated.

Acceptance of a Pre-visit Intervention to Engage African American Glaucoma Patients during Visits.

Significance: The glaucoma question prompt list/video intervention was well received by patients. Eighty-seven percent of patients recommended that other patients should watch the educational video before their visits, and 89% said that other patients should complete the question prompt list before visits.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to (a) describe patient feedback on a glaucoma question prompt list/video intervention designed to motivate African American patients to be more engaged during visits and (b) examine patient demographics associated with acceptance of the intervention.

Clinicians' Use of Quantitative Information while Assessing the Rate of Functional Progression in Glaucoma.

Purpose: Clinicians use both global and point-wise information from visual fields to assess the rate of glaucomatous functional progression. We asked which objective, quantitative measures best correlated with subjective assessment by glaucoma experts. In particular, we aimed to determine how much that judgment was based on localized rates of change vs.

Risk Factors for Failure of Tube Shunt Surgery: A Pooled Data Analysis.

Purpose: To identify the risk factors associated with failure of tube shunt surgery.

Design: Pooled analysis of 3 prospective multicenter, randomized clinical trials.

Methods: A total of 621 patients with medically uncontrolled glaucoma were enrolled, including 276 from the Ahmed Baerveldt Comparison Study, 238 from the Ahmed Versus Baerveldt Study, and 107 from the tube group of the Tube Versus Trabeculectomy Study.

Clinicians' Use of Quantitative Information When Assessing the Rate of Structural Progression in Glaucoma.

Purpose: OCT scans contain large amounts of information, but clinicians often rely on reported layer thicknesses when assessing the rate of glaucomatous progression. We sought to determine which of these quantifications most closely relate to the subjective assessment of glaucoma experts who had all the diagnostic information available.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Glaucoma Screening Using an iPad-Based Visual Field Test in a West African Population.

Purpose: To investigate the performance of the Melbourne Rapid Fields (MRF) for use in clinic-based visual field testing in a low-resource setting.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Participants: One hundred and three participants (66 patients with glaucoma and 37 control participants) attending a clinical appointment at the Tema Eye Center, Tema, Ghana.

Increasing Engagement of African American Patients with Glaucoma during Medical Encounters: Creation of a Pre-visit Video.

Significance: The developed video can be accessed by African American patients with glaucoma from across the United States on YouTube to learn why it is important to ask eye care providers any questions they might have about glaucoma and/or its treatment.

Purpose: Our objective was to develop an educational video for African Americans with glaucoma to watch before their ophthalmology office visits to help motivate them to be actively involved in their care.

Methods: The Social Cognitive Theory guided the development of the video.

Separation and thickness measurements of superficial and deep slabs of the retinal nerve fiber layer in healthy and glaucomatous eyes.

Purpose: Describe a new method to analyze retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness maps.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Subjects: RNFL thickness maps of healthy and glaucomatous eyes.

Association of a Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Genetic Risk Score With Earlier Age at Diagnosis.

Importance: Genetic variants associated with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) are known to influence disease risk. However, the clinical effect of associated variants individually or in aggregate is not known. Genetic risk scores (GRS) examine the cumulative genetic load by combining individual genetic variants into a single measure, which is assumed to have a larger effect and increased power to detect relevant disease-related associations.

Glaucoma Patient Preferences for Video Education on Eye Drop Technique.

Significance: Glaucoma patients express a strong need for practical instruction on instilling eye drops correctly. To maximize the benefit of a video intervention to improve eye drop technique, patients recommend that video education be provided both in the clinic setting and online.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to (1) describe glaucoma patients' perspectives on how to improve an online eye drop technique video and how to disseminate it to other glaucoma patients and (2) examine how these perspectives differ across demographics.

Improved Detection of Visual Field Progression Using a Spatiotemporal Boundary Detection Method.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and requires regular monitoring upon diagnosis to ascertain whether the disease is stable or progressing. However, making this determination remains a difficult clinical task. Recently, a novel spatiotemporal boundary detection predictor of glaucomatous visual field (VF) progression (STBound) was developed.

A randomized controlled trial of an online educational video intervention to improve glaucoma eye drop technique.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an online video intervention in improving self-efficacy and eye drop application technique in glaucoma patients.

Methods: We randomized ninety-two patients with primary open-angle glaucoma, all who self-administer their eye drops, to either watch the 4-minute Meducation® eye drop technique video in the intervention group, or a nutrition video in the control group. We assessed five eye drop technique steps using objective video recordings at baseline, immediately after watching the video, and 1 month later.

Eight-Year Incidence of Open-Angle Glaucoma in the Tema Eye Survey.

Purpose: To determine the incidence of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and its risk factors in the Tema Eye Survey in Ghana, West Africa.

Design: Longitudinal, observational population-based study.

Participants: One thousand two hundred five of 1500 participants 40 years of age or older selected randomly from 5603 participants originally drawn from the population and who had undergone a baseline examination.

Utility of combining spectral domain optical coherence tomography structural parameters for the diagnosis of early Glaucoma: a mini-review.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has moved to the forefront of imaging modalities in the management of glaucoma and retinal diseases. It is modifying how glaucoma and glaucoma progression are diagnosed clinically and augmenting our understanding of the disease. OCT provides multiple parameters from various anatomic areas for glaucoma diagnosis, evaluation of treatment efficacy, and progression monitoring.