title: An assessment of the health and economic burdens of glaucoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To bring together information concerning the epidemiology and the economic and individual burdens of glaucoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interpretive essay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review and synthesis of selected literature published from 1991 through December 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An estimated 3% of the global population over 40 years of age currently has glaucoma, the majority of whom are undiagnosed. Vision loss from glaucoma has a significant impact on health-related quality of life even in the early stages of disease. The overall burden increases as glaucomatous damage and vision loss progress. The economic burden of glaucoma is significant and increases as the disease worsens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early identification and treatment of patients with glaucoma and those with ocular hypertension at high risk of developing vision loss are likely to reduce an individual's loss of health-related quality of life as well as the personal and societal economic burdens.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. rvarma@usc.edu
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Varma
authors.forename: Paul P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kotak
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000191:economics*; D014943:Global Health; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000191:economics; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment