Proportion of Glaucoma among Voluntary People Coming for Glaucoma Screening Program at Jimma University Department of Ophthalmology, Jimma, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Glaucoma screening has been controversial, and much of the controversy has centered on the value of mass or community screening. METHODS: The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of glaucoma among volunteer adults who were screened in Jimma University Department of Ophthalmology. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 459 volunteer residents of Jimma town and surrounding areas. The study subjects were aged 40 years and above, who came for community screening program after media announcement during the four consecutive weekends of November 2014. Comprehensive eye examination was done including best corrected visual acuity, intra-ocular pressure measurement, stereoscopic optic nerve evaluation, angle structure evaluation and visual field testing. Three diagnostic criteria for glaucoma were employed for all cases. RESULTS: Of all adults who came for screening, 47(10.24%) were diagnosed to have glaucoma, 59(12.85%) were glaucoma suspects, and 8(1.74%) had ocular hypertension. The proportion of glaucoma increased with increasing age, (P value= 0.001 (99%CI)). Primary open angle glaucoma was the most common form (42.55%) of all new cases while 4.4% of all screened adults were followed by normal tension glaucoma (29.79%), pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (19.15%), and primary angle closure glaucoma (6.38%) Around 5.7% of all glaucoma cases were found to be blind. CONCLUSION: The proportion of glaucoma in this community screening program in Southwest Ethiopia was 10.24% with primary open angle glaucoma being the commonest subtype. Glaucoma community screening should be promoted for early diagnosis and intervention to prevent irreversible blindness.