SAN FRANCISCO – Latinos have rates of glaucoma comparable to those in African-Americans and higher than those in whites, and for this reason must be educated about the devastating effects of the disease, if left untreated. The prevalence of glaucoma in Hispanic-Americans age 41 and over has been reported at 4 percent, and is as high as 21 percent in those 80 and older.

Because Hispanic-Americans have been identified as an ethnic group at high risk for disease, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it would extend the glaucoma screening benefit to include Hispanic-Americans age 65 and older. The benefit had been limited to individuals with diabetes, those with a family history of glaucoma, and African-Americans age 50 and older - another group with a propensity to develop the disease.

“Given the high prevalence of glaucoma in Latinos – the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population – if we are to prevent vision loss and blindness in Latinos, it would be important to screen and provide early treatment to Latinos with glaucoma,” said Rohit Varma, MD, principal investigator of the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES) and an Academy member.

The Academy encouraged CMS to revise the screening benefit based on new data provided by various eye studies of Latino patients, including the National Eye Institute and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, LALES and the Proyecto VER study, a joint study between the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins and other institutions.

The rule will become effective for services provided on or after Jan. 1, 2006.