Racial Disparities in the Use of Ancillary Testing to Evaluate Individuals With Open-Angle Glaucoma

Abstract

Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is a major cause of visual impairment, affecting more than 3 million individuals in the United States.¹ With the aging of the US population, these numbers are expected to increase considerably in the coming decades. Because most patients with OAG are asymptomatic until rather late in the disease course and given that there are many effective medical and surgical treatments that can slow down or halt disease progression, it is imperative to identify and treat high-risk patients early in the course of the disease before they develop significant visual impairment. Numerous studies have found that OAG is more prevalent in racial minorities relative to the white population.^2-5 Other studies have shown that racial minorities are more likely to experience vision loss and blindness from OAG.⁶