The Value of Targeted Screening for Glaucoma: The University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Experience.

Background: Glaucoma is an irreversible silent and dangerous eye condition that leads to damage of the optic nerve head. This study aimed to determine the outcome of targeted glaucoma outreaches done in the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital over three years with a view to early detection and timely institution of management.

Methods: The study is a retrospective review of 3 targeted hospital-based glaucoma screenings, World Sight Day of 2019 (140 participants), World Glaucoma Week of 2020 (176 participants), and World Glaucoma Week of 2022 (183 participants). The criteria for diagnosing glaucoma and glaucoma suspects were taken from the national study of prevalence and types of glaucoma from the Nigerian national blindness survey and International Society for Geographical and Epidemiological Ophthalmology criteria.

Results: The study population had a mean age of 45.54 years (SD 16.92) with individuals within the age group of 51-60 years comprising the majority of the participants (26.4%). Most participants had normal vision or mild visual impairment in the right eye (411, 86.1%) and left eye (405, 84.9%) while blindness was recorded in the right eye of 37 (7.7%) participants and left eye of 36 (7.5%). The prevalence of glaucoma cases and suspects among study participants was 29.4% and 42.5%, respectively. There was a statistically significant relationship between the diagnosis of glaucoma and older age, family history of glaucoma and elevated intraocular pressure.

Conclusion: This study showed that targeted screening for glaucoma is an invaluable tool for ensuring early detection of the disease.