Glaucoma screening a 16-year follow-up of ocular normotensives.

A follow-up was planned of 1076 subjects with ocular normotension, with an observation period ranging from 15.8 to 18.3 years. Initially, they were included in a glaucoma screening on the island of Falster comprising 2031 volunteer blood donors. In the primary screening all 1976 persons had an applanation pressure below 20 mmHg in both eyes. The 55 with intraocular hypertension have been followed up in other studies, already published. It was possible to trace only 408 subjects (20.6%), now aged 37-78. Fourteen subjects (24 eyes) had developed ocular tensions equal to or higher than 20 mmHg. One of these, a 56-year-old man had a glaucomatous visual field defect in the right eye and a cup/disc ratio of 0.6 in both eyes. A glaucoma risk of 0.25% can thus be given.