Estimating the rate of progressive visual field damage in those with open-angle glaucoma, from cross-sectional data

Abstract

PURPOSE. To estimate the rate of visual field progression in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) subjects, by using data from population-based cross-sectional studies. METHODS. Subjects with OAG were identified in nine surveys of randomly sampled populations using standard criteria for glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Subjects were of European, African, Chinese, and Hispanic ethnicity. The measure of OAG damage was the mean deviation (MD) of an automated visual field test (Humphrey Field Analyzer; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA). The rate of progression was the mean of all subjects' damage in the worse eye divided by an average time since onset. Time since onset was estimated from age-specific pre..