WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drops used to treat high pressure in the eye can delay and may even prevent glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, US researchers said on Thursday.

Patients who got the drops were less than half as likely to develop glaucoma as those who did not, the national team of researchers found.

"There are millions of people in the United States and in other countries who are at risk of developing glaucoma because they have high pressure in their eyes," Dr. Michael Kass, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, said in a statement.

"This study provides the first good evidence that treating those people may delay, or possibly even prevent, the blinding eye disease glaucoma," Kass stated.

Ophthalmologists at 22 centers studied 1,636 people aged between 40 and 80 who had high pressure within their eyeballs. This condition is caused by a build-up of fluid in the eye that can put pressure on the optic nerve.

An estimated 3 million to 6 million people in the United States alone have high eye pressure and more than 66 million worldwide have glaucoma.

As the optic nerve is pressed, vision is gradually and almost imperceptibly lost.

"Glaucoma is often referred to as the sneak thief of sight because it often occurs with no pain or symptoms," Dr. Ronald Gross of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

"Many times patients don't notice a difference in peripheral vision until the problem has progressed. Therefore, it is essential to visit an ophthalmologist to detect the condition early," Gross added.

BIG DROP IN RATE OF GLAUCOMA

The eye drops only decreased pressure in the patients' eyes by 20%, but this translated into a big drop in the rate of glaucoma, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.

"During the 5-year study period, we found that only 4.4% of the study patients who received the eye drops developed glaucoma," Mae Gordon of the Washington University School of Medicine, said. "By comparison, 9.5% of the study participants who did not get pressure-lowering drops developed glaucoma."

The researchers found that older people and blacks were more likely to develop glaucoma. In addition, factors such as higher eye pressure, the anatomy of the optic nerve and thinness of the cornea could help predict who would go on to develop glaucoma.

This should help eye doctors decide who to treat with eye drops, said Dr. Paul Sieving, director of the National Eye Institute. "Not all people with elevated eye pressure should be treated with the eye drops. If you are at risk for glaucoma, see your eye care professional to receive a comprehensive eye exam and find out if eye drops might help," he said.

Kass agreed.

"Eye care professionals should not prescribe eye drops for all people who have elevated eye pressure with no sign of glaucoma," he said. "Doctors should take into account several factors, including the simple fact that 90% of participants in the observation group did not develop glaucoma within the 5-year study period."

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".