title: Proposing new indicators for glaucoma healthcare service.
abstract: Glaucoma is the first leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide with increasing importance in public health. Indicators of glaucoma care quality as well as efficiency would benefit public health assessments, but are lacking. We propose three such indicators. First, the glaucoma coverage rate (GCR), which is the number of people known to have glaucoma divided by the total number of people with glaucoma as estimated from population-based studies multiplied by 100%. Second, the glaucoma detection rate (GDR), which is number of newly diagnosed glaucoma patients in one year divided by the population in a defined area in millions. Third, the glaucoma follow-up adherence rate (GFAR), calculated as the number of patients with glaucoma who visit eye care provider(s) at least once a year over the total number of patients with glaucoma in given eye care provider(s) in a specific period. Regularly tracking and reporting these three indicators may help to improve the healthcare system performance at national or regional levels.
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Epidemiological Eye Research Center, The Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.|Centre for Public Health, Queens University, Belfast, UK.|Eye Hospital, School of Optometry and Ophthalmology, Wenzhou Medical College, No. 270, Xue Yuan Xi Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 3250027 China.
authors.forename: Yuan Bo
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Musch
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, Queens University, Belfast, UK.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Congdon
keywords: Glaucoma coverage rate; Glaucoma detection rate; Glaucoma follow-up adherence rate; Healthcare indicator