Levensverwachting meewegen in de glaucoomzorg*

Objective

To develop a tool that can be used to calculate the probability that a glaucoma patient will become visually impaired during his/her lifetime, given his/her age and the degree of visual impairment due to glaucoma.

Method

We used residual life expectancy data (life expectancy adjusted for the age already reached) provided by Statistics Netherlands and rates of glaucoma progression derived from the literature. We calculated the stage of disease at which an individual would reach visual impairment at the end of his/her life as a function of age and rate of progression. For situations in which the individual rate of progression was unknown, we used the 90th percentiles of both rate of progression and residual life expectancy. For situations in which the individual rate of progression is known, we used the 95th percentile of the residual life expectancy.

Results

We developed an easily applicable graphical tool that enables an accurate estimate of the probability of becoming visually impaired during a patient’s lifetime, given the age, the current disease stage, and – if available – the individual rate of progression.

Conclusion

This novel tool enables the ophthalmologist to incorporate life expectancy into glaucoma care well-foundedly.

Conflict of interest and financial support: a disclosure form provided by the author is available along with the full text of this article at www.ntvg.nl, search for A6685; click on ‘Belangenverstrengeling’ (‘Conflict of interest’).