Evaluation of community eye outreach programs for early glaucoma detection in Nigeria

PURPOSE To evaluate the relevance of community eye outreach programs in the early detection of glaucoma patients in southwest Nigeria. METHODS This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study that was conducted among glaucoma patients referred to the eye clinic of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria, between January 2009 and December 2010 from different sources, including community eye outreach programs. The source of referral, stage of glaucoma, and visual field were recorded. RESULTS Six hundred and fifty-three patients were studied during this period. The mean age was 56.3 years ± 16.6 years, with a median age of 60 years. Patients referred from eye outreach programs were more likely to have mild to moderate disease than patients referred from other sources, who were more likely to have severe disease according to both the optic nerve head assessment (P < 0.01, Pearson's Chi-square = 10.67, odds ratio = 1.7 [confidence interval = 1.23-2.31]) and visual field assessment (24-2) (P < 0.01, Pearson's Chi-square = 6.07, odds ratio = 1.5 [confidence interval = 1.08-2.03]). CONCLUSION Community eye outreach programs appear highly useful in the earlier detection of glaucoma in sub-Saharan Africa.