Global, regional and national burden of Glaucoma: an update analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

PURPOSE

As the epidemiological and burden trends of glaucoma are changing, it is extremely necessary to re-investigate geographical differences and trends. Here we use data from the 2019 Global burden of Disease, which aims to report the prevalence and disability-adjusted life years of glaucoma injury to assess the latest epidemiological models and trends from 1990 to 2019.

METHOD

Annual case numbers, age-standardized rates of prevalence, DALYs, and their estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) for glaucoma between 1990 and 2019 were derived from the GBD 2019 study. The relationship between glaucoma disease burden and social demographic index (SDI) was also investigated in this study.

RESULTS

In 2019, there were 7.47 million prevalent cases and 0.75 million DALYs cases, which increased by 92.53% and 69.23% compared with 1990 respectively. The global age-standardized rate of prevalence (ASPR) and age-standardized rate of DALYs (ASDR) decreased during 1990-2019 (EAPC =  - 0.55 and - 1, respectively). In 2019, the highest ASPR and ASDR of Glaucoma were all observed in Mali, whereas the lowest occurred in Taiwan (Province of China). In terms of gender, males were more likely to suffer from glaucoma than females, especially the elderly.

CONCLUSIONS

The global prevalence and DALYs of glaucoma had an absolute increase during the past 30 years. The disease burden caused by glaucoma is closely related to socioeconomic level, age, gender, and other factors, and these findings provide a basis for policymakers from the perspective of social management.