Incidence and prevalence of glaucoma in severe ocular surface disease.

Purpose: To describe the incidence and prevalence of glaucoma in a patient population with severe ocular surface disease (OSD).

Methods: A retrospective case series was compiled from all charts of patients in the Cincinnati Eye Institute/University of Cincinnati and University of Minnesota population with a diagnosis of severe OSD from 1991 to 2003. The incidence and prevalence of glaucoma in the overall patient population were identified, and stratified into disease subgroups.

Results: Of the 108 eyes evaluated in this study, 71 were diagnosed with glaucoma. The overall prevalence of glaucoma in patients with severe OSD is 65.7%, with a range from 42.9% to 88.4%. Analysis by subgroup shows the highest percentage of patients with concurrent glaucoma fall into the categories of aniridia and chemical injury, and the lowest was noted in those patients with autoimmune or iatrogenic OSD. Overall, the incidence of glaucoma was 20.4%, with a range of 13.6% to 60%.

Conclusions: Compared with previous studies, our results show a significantly higher prevalence of glaucoma in patients with severe OSD. This information warrants increased attention to treatment and management of OSD and concurrent glaucoma.