January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month.
Open-angle glaucoma (the most common type of glaucoma) is the number one cause of blindness among Hispanics living in the United States–especially for those of Mexican descent. However, only 36% of Hispanics know they have the disease.
Within the last eight years, several large-scale clinical studies concerning the incidence of glaucoma among Hispanics have been published. One of these studies, the 2004 Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES), determined that nearly 5% of Hispanics have open-angle glaucoma, an incidence four times higher than that found among non-Hispanic Whites. The study also found that Hispanics over the age of 60 were even more at risk.
Not surprisingly, doctors and researchers are not exactly sure why Hispanics are more likely to develop the disease. One theory is that Hispanics may be more vulnerable to developing high eye pressure earlier in life, giving the pressure more time to build up and cause damage. Another possibility is that Hispanics may be less likely to have regular eye exams that could detect and treat glaucoma in its early stages.
Glaucoma does have a genetic component, which means it runs in families. Although researchers have not been able to find a single ‘glaucoma gene,’ family history of the disease is a major risk factor. Other risk factors for glaucoma are older age, high eye pressure and high blood pressure.
Vision Loss and Blindness
Open-angle glaucoma occurs when pressure builds up within the eye. This pressure eventually prevents the blood from flowing to the optic nerve (the central nerve that sends visual information from the eye to the brain), which leads to vision loss and blindness. All of this can happen without the person feeling any pain or noticing any symptoms.
Results from LALES showed that visual impairment and blindness were particularly high among Hispanics, especially among the elderly. Three percent of the study’s participants (roughly 184 people) experienced some sort of vision loss and 0.4% of them were blinded due to glaucoma.
Prevention and Treatment
Although there is no cure for glaucoma; medications can help reduce eye pressure and stop the progression of the disease. However, once the optic nerve has been damaged, vision loss is permanent. That is why it’s so important for Hispanics, especially those over the age of 40, to get eye exams to check for glaucoma.
Four years ago, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services extended the glaucoma screening benefit to include Hispanics age 65 and older. This means that Medicare will cover an annual glaucoma screening exam for eligible beneficiaries.
Talk to your Family
Family clinical history plays a strong role in the development of glaucoma. According to the Rotterdam Eye Study, having a relative with glaucoma increases a person’s risk of developing the disease by more than nine times.
Interestingly, having a sibling with glaucoma seems to have more of an affect than having a parent or another relative with the disease. According to the Baltimore Eye Study, individuals with a sibling who has been diagnosed with glaucoma are approximately four times more likely to be diagnosed with glaucoma themselves. This equates to about a 10 to 20% chance that you will develop the disease if you have a sibling who already has glaucoma.
it is extremely important to find out if any of your relatives has been diagnosed with the disease and to let your loved ones know if you suddenly find out you have glaucoma.
Don’t lose sight of the risk of glaucoma–schedule an appointment with your eye doctor this January.
