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Longer Age Term from OH to Glaucoma?

Question:

   I’m curious….let’s say there was a person who was diagnosed with ocular hypertension at age 21 years old, and another person who is also diagnosed with the same condition at age 40.    Would the 21 year old have a bigger chance of getting glaucoma than the 40 year old because of the "longer age term" or a longer age period in ocular hypertension?

Response:

NRushing1…@gmail.com wrote: > I’m curious….let’s say there was a person who was diagnosed with > ocular hypertension at age 21 years old, and another person who is also > diagnosed with the same condition at age 40. >    Would the 21 year old have a bigger chance of getting glaucoma than > the 40 year old because of the "longer age term" or a longer age period > in ocular hypertension?

I believe the Ocular Hypertension study showed that ocular hypertensives convert to glaucoma at the rate of about two percent per year. So if that’s all you looked at, then over an average lifespan the 21 year old would be more likely to live long enough to get glaucoma. But there are lots of other factors–for example, the higher the eye pressure, the higher the risk, and thickness of the cornea plays a part too. Also, from what I’ve read, there is some natural thinning of the optic nerve fiber caused by aging, so it might happen that the 40 year old’s optic nerve becomes less resistant to pressure over time. Another thing is that eye pressures often tend to rise as people age anyway. I’m not a doctor, this is just gathered from various sources I’ve read. But my guess is that there are too many factors that influence the development of glaucoma (some people with higher than what is considered normal eye pressures will never have any damage, and of course normal tension glaucoma patients have damage even though they are not considered to have ocular hypertension) that it would be hard to predict. One thing, however, I think is that the 21 year old can pretty much count on better treatments and probably a cure for glaucoma in his lifetime, although possibly the same is true of someone currently age 40. I hope so. -Gudrun

Response:

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