Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma: methodology and recruitment

Abstract

Glaucoma is a sight-threatening disease affecting 3% of the population over the age of 50. Glaucoma is treatable, and severe vision loss can usually be prevented if diagnosis is made at an early stage. Genetic factors play a major role in the pathogenesis of the condition, and therefore, genetic testing to identify asymptomatic at-risk individuals is a promising strategy to reduce the prevalence of glaucoma blindness. Furthermore, unravelling genetic risk factors for glaucoma would also allow a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the condition and the development of new treatments. With the collection of glaucoma cases recruited so far, our registry aims to identify novel glaucoma genetic risk factors to establish risk profiling of the population and protocols for genetic testing.