Alex Young , 2025-05-08 16:53:00
Key takeaways:
- Living in an area with high deprivation was associated with a thinner retinal nerve fiber layer.
- Researchers hope to explore patient outcomes after treatment.
SALT LAKE CITY — Lower socioeconomic status was linked with worse eye structure and function at initial presentation in patients undergoing selective laser trabeculoplasty, according to a poster presentation.
At the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting, Jacqueline L. Chen, MSc, presented a retrospective cohort study using data from patients who received glaucoma care at a tertiary care center in Pennsylvania. Chen and colleagues used area deprivation index (ADI) as a proxy for patients’ socioeconomic status and explored associations between ADI and structural measures, such as cup volume, cup-to-disc ratio and retinal nerve fiber layer, and functional measures, such as visual field index, at presentation. The study included 163 eyes that underwent SLT.
Living in an area with high deprivation was associated with a thinner retinal nerve fiber layer.
Chen said that higher deprivation was associated with larger cup volume, cup-to-disc ratio and disc area and lower retinal nerve fiber layer. There was a negative association between deprivation and visual field index and mean deviation, according to the study.
Jacqueline L. Chen
When patients living in the most and least deprived areas were compared, the study found that living in a deprived area was associated with a 9 µm thinner retinal nerve fiber layer.
Chen said the researchers hope to analyze the outcomes of these patients to see what happens once they undergo treatment.
“Once they’re in our care, perhaps these disparities that exist among socioeconomic status will no longer remain,” she told Healio. “That would show to us that we just need to find these patients and get them treated.”
Sources/Disclosures
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Chen JL, et al. Socioeconomic status and structural and functional measures at presentation for those receiving selective laser trabeculoplasty. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting; May 4-8, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah.
Disclosures:
Chen reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
