More Than 4 Million US Adults Had Glaucoma in 2022

TOPLINE:

In 2022, an estimated 4.22 million US adults had glaucoma and nearly 1.5 million of them experienced some vision loss as a result, with notable demographic and geographic disparities seen in the burden of the disease.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 2005-2008), Medicare fee-for-service claims (2019), IBM MarketScan commercial insurance claims (2016), population-based studies of eye disease (1985-2003), and 2022 population estimates from the US Census Bureau for the study.
• The analysis considered individuals aged 18 years or older, grouped in 5-year age brackets up to 100 years.
• The outcomes measured were the prevalence of any type of glaucoma and vision-affecting glaucoma stratified by age group, sex/gender, race and ethnicity, and county and state.

TAKEAWAY:

• In 2022, an estimated 4.22 million people in the United States had glaucoma, with a prevalence of 1.62% and 2.56% among all adults and those aged 40 years or older, respectively.
• An estimated 1.49 million people had vision-affecting glaucoma, with a prevalence of 0.57% among all adults.
• Non-Hispanic Black adults had a higher prevalence of glaucoma than non-Hispanic White adults (3.15% vs 1.42%).
• The prevalence of glaucoma increased with age, with the highest rates found among those aged 80 years or older (7.75%). State-specific prevalence rates ranged from 1.11% in Utah to 1.95% in Mississippi.

IN PRACTICE:

“[The study] estimates may help provide information for the development and prioritization of public health strategies and interventions, the monitoring of epidemiologic trends, and evaluation of programs tailored for communities and populations at highest risk of glaucoma,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

The research was led by Joshua R. Ehrlich, MD, MPH, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was published online on October 17, 2024, in JAMA Ophthalmology.

LIMITATIONS:

Study limitations included the use of older data from the NHANES and population-based studies (1985-2003), which may not have fully reflected current trends. Sample sizes in NHANES were not large enough to model a race effect for non-Hispanic people who were not White or Black, leading to combined estimates for Hispanic and other racial and ethnic groups.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vision Health Initiative. Some authors reported receiving consulting, speaking, and advisory fees from various sources. One author also reported serving on the board of two organizations.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.