CASE 1: A 34-year-old lady who was admitted for pneumonia developed painful blurring of vision and redness in the right eye (RE) for one week. An examination of the RE revealed visual acuity (VA) of light perception (PL) with positive relative afferent pupillary defect (RAPD), proptosis, and restriction of extraocular movement with hypopyon. The patient was treated for RE panophthalmitis with a lung abscess and was started on systemic and topical antibiotics. The vitreous tap culture grew Klebsiella pneumoniae. Despite treatment, the patient's condition deteriorated, and evisceration was undertaken.
CASE 2: A 38-year-old lady presented with a acute onset of RE pain associated with blurred vision and redness for two days, and fever for one week. RE VA was hand movement with a positive RAPD and anterior chamber cells of 2+. A B-scan revealed a dome-shaped subretinal mass with exudative retinal detachment. The patient was treated for RE panophthalmitis complicated by a basal ganglia abscess. The urine and vitreous tap cultures grew Klebsiella pneumoniae. She responded to high-dose intravenous and intravitreal antibiotics. Unfortunately, her RE became phthisical.
CASE 3: A 70-year-old lady presented with painless blurring of vision over the RE. The blood and urine cultures grew Klebsiella pneumoniae. RE VA was PL, and she was treated for endogenous endophthalmitis. The vitreous culture grew Klebsiella pneumoniae. Unfortunately, the RE became phthisical.
PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression among patients with POAG and examine the relationship between depression and the severity of POAG in older adults.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and sixty patients with POAG aged 60 years or above were recruited from 2 tertiary centers located in an urban and suburban area. The participants were stratified according to the severity of their glaucoma based on the scores from the modified Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS) to mild, moderate, severe, and end stage. Face-to-face interviews were performed using the Malay Version Geriatric Depression Scale 14 (mGDS-14) questionnaire. Depression is diagnosed when the score is ≥8. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the subscores between the groups. Multifactorial analysis of variance was also applied with relevant confounding factors.
RESULTS: Depression was detected in 16% of older adults with POAG; a higher percentage of depression was seen in those with end stage disease. There was a significant increase in the mean score of mGDS-14 according to the severity of POAG. There was evidence of an association between depression and severity of visual field defect (P<0.001). There was a significant difference in mGDS-14 score between the pairing of severity of POAG [mild-severe (P=0.003), mild-end stage (P<0.001), moderate-severe (P<0.001), and moderate-end stage (P<0.001)] after adjustment to living conditions, systemic disease, and visual acuity.
CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists should be aware that older adults with advanced visual field defects in POAG may have depression. The detection of depression is important to ensure adherence and persistence to the treatment of glaucoma.
METHODS: A retrospective cohort record review study was conducted among 222 patients (222 eyes) with primary glaucoma who were selected from a glaucoma research database of a tertiary center in Malaysia. The patients were Malays and diagnosed with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) or primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). Patients who were followed up regularly for at least 6 months between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2014 and completed another 1-year follow-up after recruitment (between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015) were selected. Multiple prognostic factors that influence visual field progression were identified. Progression of visual field loss was based on the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study and Hodapp-Parrish-Anderson scores. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed.
RESULTS: Sixty-three patients (28.4%) developed visual field progression after a mean (SD) follow-up of 6.9 (3.3) years. Those with POAG progressed faster (mean time, 10.6 years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.3, 11.9) than those with PACG (17.3 years; 95% CI, 14.8, 19.9) but not statistically significant. Disc hemorrhage and history of eye pain increased the risk of progression by 2.8-folds (95% CI, 1.6, 4.8) and 2.5-folds (1.4, 4.4), respectively.
CONCLUSION: The 5-year survival of the Malay primary glaucoma patients with visual field progression was similar with that of other Asian populations. However, aggressive management is required for those with disc hemorrhages and eye pain related to increased intraocular pressure.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 150 Malay PACG patients between April 2014 and August 2016. Ocular examination was performed including Humphrey visual field (HVF) 24-2 analysis assessment. On the basis of the 2 consecutive reliable HVFs, the severity of glaucoma was scored according to modified Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS) by 2 masked investigators and classified as mild, moderate, and severe. Those with retinal diseases, neurological diseases, memory problem, and myopia ≥4 diopters were excluded. Their smoking status and details were obtained by validated questionnaire from Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES). The duration of smoking, number of cigarettes per day, and pack/year was also documented. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted.
RESULTS: There was a significant association between education level and severity of PACG (P=0.001). However, there was no significant association between cigarette smoking and severity of glaucoma (P=0.080). On the basis of multivariate analysis, a linear association was identified between cigarette smoked per day (adjusted b=0.73; 95% CI: 0.54, 1.45; P<0.001) and body mass index (adjusted b=0.32; 95% CI: 0.07, 1.35; P=0.032) with AGIS score.
CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant association between cigarette smoking and severity of PACG. Cigarette smoked per day among the smokers was associated with severity of PACG. However, because of the detrimental effect of smoking, cessation of smoking should be advocated to PACG patients.