The authors regret these errors. “
“The risk of visual disability from glaucoma is probably the most important question for a newly diagnosed glaucoma patient. It is well known that open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is a major reason for blindness, and that glaucoma is the second most important reason for blindness worldwide.1 Nevertheless, the risk of blindness attributable to glaucoma for a white patient with OAG is often assumed to be small.2 and 3

Several studies have addressed the risk of glaucoma blindness,3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 but only few published studies followed glaucoma patients until death.8, 9 and 10 The average duration with a glaucoma diagnosis has been estimated to be approximately 13 years in white patients,11 but little is known about the duration of blindness in glaucoma patients. We learn more have access to data on a large and representative part of all diagnosed glaucoma patients in our catchment area (population 305 000). This gave us the opportunity to study the lifetime risk of low vision and blindness in patients with open-angle glaucoma as well as the time with visual impairment from glaucoma. This retrospective study was conducted following the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Regional Ethical Review Board of Lund, Sweden approved the retrospective chart review and usage of the acquired data. Approximately three-quarters of all known glaucoma patients in Malmö are diagnosed and followed at Skåne University Hospital,

Malmö. Patients with permanent visual disability are referred to 1 institution: the Habilitation and Assistive Technology Service in Malmö. We used the patient administrative systems of both the this website hospital and the Habilitation and Assistive Technology Service in Malmö to identify patients with manifest glaucoma with visual field loss. Patients who died between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2010 (according to the national tax registration system) were then included. The records Thiamine-diphosphate kinase of all identified patients were reviewed and all relevant data were noted. Eligible patients had to have OAG, primary open-angle glaucoma

(POAG), or exfoliative glaucoma (PEXG). Patients with other types of glaucoma were not included. Records of visual acuity (VA) and/or visual field (VF) examination during the last 3 years before patients’ deaths were required. Patients who were blind at the time of the last visit were included even if the time between the last visit and death exceeded 3 years. Patients included in the study were divided into 2 groups: the first group included patients who had been followed at Skåne University Hospital already from the start, giving us access to visual acuity, visual field status, and age at the time of diagnosis. Patients in the other group were initially diagnosed outside Skåne University Hospital and referred to our outpatient department only later during follow-up. Complete data (including visual acuity and visual field status) for these patients were available from the first examination at the hospital.