There are diseases where prevention strategies are especially important, and glaucoma is one of them. It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and the second most common cause of blindness after cataracts. Due to the remarkable advances in cataract surgery in the Western world, glaucoma is now the leading cause of blindness in our population.
Glaucoma currently affects between 60 and 70 million people worldwide, and this number is estimated to rise to nearly 80 million by 2020. This increase is attributed to the aging population, given the disease's strong age-related nature, with its incidence increasing particularly after age 40. The explanation may lie in the fact that, with age, multiple biological changes occur in tissues and bodily functions, which could contribute to the development of glaucoma.
Regarding intraocular pressure (IOP), its increase is now seen as the most important risk factor for the development of glaucoma, not its cause, since individuals with normal IOP levels can still have glaucomatous lesions. Therefore, although the development of the disease is still primarily associated with elevated IOP, it is now known that the pathophysiology of glaucoma is multifactorial. Currently, however, it is the only modifiable risk factor that can be used to prevent the progression of glaucoma.
What's happening in Spain?
According to the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology, between 2% and 5% of the Spanish population over 45 years of age suffers from some clinical form of the disease.
It is estimated that in the future Spain will be one of the countries with the greatest challenge in dealing with the increase in the age of its population and therefore glaucoma, since it is expected that by 2050, 33% of people will be over 65 years old, 4 percentage points above the average of the European Union which will be 29%.
With the aging of the population in our country, it is expected that the number of people with glaucoma will also tend to rise, which explains the insistence of vision professionals on carrying out annual check-ups that ensure the prevention, detection and control of glaucoma, since in its beginnings it is an asymptomatic and silent disease in which the peripheral visual field is lost, making it difficult in many cases for the patient to detect it.
However, although the number of glaucoma patients is increasing, it's important to note that efforts in prevention and research are leading to earlier detection. This means that while there are more cases of glaucoma, the number of people who go blind due to the disease has decreased.
We must all work together to ensure this continues, as time is running out for these patients who suffer from the disease without knowing it and who often only see their ophthalmologist when the loss of visual field is already irreversible.
Cristina Peña Betancor
Optician-Optometrist
NIVARIA CLINIC