Abstract
Objective: Glaucoma is the leading cause of posteriori blindness in many Japanese people. Normal tension glaucoma (NTG) is more prevalent in Japanese people than other glaucomas. In the Japan Glaucoma Society epidemiological survey (Tajimi Study), 5.0% of the Japanese people over 40 years of age had glaucoma, and 72% of them had NTG.
However, the fundus examination effective for detecting glaucoma is not being conducted except for on some subjects in a specific health examination in 2008.
Recently, an inexpensive, small, and lightweight device called a frequency doubling technology (FDT) screener has been developed.
We conducted a mobile medical examination of adult eyes and verified the effectiveness and usefulness of the fundus and FDT inspection in the adult eye test.
Methods: In total, 892 people (738 men, 154 women) were examinees, out of 2,392 participants of a regular medical examination performed by a single corporation in Chiba in 2012.
The agreed examinees underwent a FDT screener test, fundus examination, vision screening, and an interview after obtaining informed consent.
The diagnosis of glaucoma was made using the Japan Glaucoma Society criteria, and we placed examinees under the industrial physician management for probable glaucoma from inspected results in the fundus examination (0.7 ≤ cup-to-ratio < 0.9) and a FDT test negative.
We have introduced the examination of ophthalmologist, from inspected results in the fundus examination (0.9 ≤ cup-to-ratio) or FDT test positive.
Results: Of the 85 examinees that have been detected in the adult eye examination, seven examinees were diagnosed with glaucoma by precision inspection. The glaucoma prevalence (after correction) was 1.67%. The glaucoma (including glaucoma-related disease) positive predictive value of the eye screening was 89.5%.
Eleven examinees not detected with a disease in the fundus examination, were detected in FDT. Breakdown of that examinees were one glaucoma, one retinal nerve fiber bundles, and three retinal macular degeneration.
Conclusions: Our results suggested that FDT in addition to the fundus examination was effective for early detection of glaucoma.
