The glaucoma suspect: differentiation of the future glaucoma eye from the non-glaucomatous suspect eye. 2. Visual field decay.

Visual-field areas to a I2e stimulus were measured planimetrically using an X-Y digitizer and a computer program. Sampling of normal subjects and patients suspected of having glaucoma was done at two points in time. Calculations of eye-wall stress were done using ultrasonic data and intra-ocular pressure (IOP) measurements from patient records. For those suspected of having glaucoma who developed chronic open-angle glaucoma (COAG), the time of transition was the second point in time. The visual field area was regressed against patient age at the two points in time. No difference in the regression slopes was found for the normal subjects and unchanged patients. The patients who did develop glaucoma were significantly different. The mean annual rate of visual-field change (rate of decay) was calculated and found to be 28.5 mm2/year for the normals, 153.5 mm2/year for the suspects, and 376.4 mm2/year for those patients who developed glaucoma. The rate of visual-field decay only correlated with patient age (P = 0.03) and eye-wall stress (P less than 0.01) in the patients who developed glaucoma.