Laser in Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension Trial (LIGHT) in China - A Randomized Controlled Trial: Design and Baseline Characteristics.

Purpose: To describe the baseline characteristics of a trial to evaluate whether selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT), as a first-line treatment, provides superior economic and health-related quality of life outcomes to medical treatment in China.

Design: The LiGHT China trial is an unmasked, single-center, pragmatic, randomized controlled trial.

Methods: A total of 771 previously undiagnosed patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG, 622 patients) or ocular hypertension (OHT, 149 patients) at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center were recruited from March 2015 to January 2019. Subjects were randomized to SLT-1st (followed by medication then surgery when required) or Medicine-1st (medication followed by surgery when required). The primary outcome was health-related quality of life (HRQL). The secondary outcomes were clinical outcomes, cost, cost-effectiveness, Glaucoma Utility Index, Glaucoma Symptom Scale, visual function, and safety.

Results: The mean age of POAG patients was 49.8 years and 38.8 years for OHT. The median intraocular pressure was 20 mm Hg for the 1,105 POAG eyes and 24 mm Hg for the 271 OHT eyes. POAG eyes had thinner central cornea thickness (CCT, 536 µm) than OHT eyes (545 µm). Median mean deviation of the visual field in POAG eyes was -4.2 dB. Median refractive error was -1.5 D for OHT eyes and -1.25 D for POAG eyes. There was no difference between POAG and OHT patients on baseline scores of GUI, GSS and VF-14. The difference between OHT and POAG on the EQ-5D-5L was 0.024.

Conclusions: Compared with participants in the LiGHT UK trial, participants in this trial were younger, more myopic and had more severe visual field defects.