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  • OHTS: 20 Years of Follow-up Data on POAG

    By Jean Shaw
    Selected and Reviewed By: Neil M. Bressler, MD, and Deputy Editors
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    Journal Highlights

    JAMA Ophthalmology, May 2021

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    Kass et al. set out to determine the cumulative incidence and severity of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) during 20 years of follow-up among participants of the Ocular Hyperten­sion Treatment Study (OHTS). They found that 25% of the study partici­pants developed visual field loss during follow-up.

    OHTS originally ran from February 1994 to December 2008. Follow-up began on Jan. 6, 2016, and it continued until April 15, 2019. During that time, study participants received ophthal­mic examinations and visual function assessments.

    Initially, 1,636 patients enrolled in OHTS. Their mean age was 55.4 years, 56.9% were women, and most were White (69.6%). Over the course of the study (including follow-up), 515 partic­ipants died. After a median follow-up of 20.2 years, 483 participants (29.5%) developed POAG in one or both eyes. The cumulative incidence of POAG at 20 years, adjusted for exposure time, was 45.6% among all participants. The cumulative incidence by ethnicity was 55.2% among Black participants and 42.7% among other ethnic groups. The 20-year cumulative incidence of visual field loss was 25.2%. When the OHTS prediction model—which categorizes patients into low-, medium-, and high-risk groups—was applied, the cumu­lative incidence of POAG was 31.7% among low-risk patients, versus 47.6% and 59.8% among those at medium and high risk, respectively.

    The researchers noted that this in­formation, when used with the OHTS prediction model, may help clinicians and patients make informed, person­alized decisions about management of ocular hypertension.

    The original article can be found here.