Geographic Information System Mapping of Social Risk Factors and Patient Outcomes of Pediatric Glaucoma

This study aimed to use Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to present the geospatial distribution of visual outcomes and sociodemographic risk factors of a cohort of pediatric glaucoma patients.

Retrospective cohort study.

233 eyes of 177 pediatric glaucoma patients treated at UC Davis Medical Center.

We reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients (aged less than 18 years) with the diagnosis of pediatric glaucoma or any adult with a prior history of pediatric glaucoma at UC Davis Medical Center from 2001 to 2019. Patient sociodemographic information and ocular health data were recorded. Patients were mapped to their residential home 3-digit zip code prefix using ArcGIS software to generate geographic representations of the pediatric glaucoma database. Statistical analyses were performed to identify significant risk factors to poor visual outcome.

The primary outcome was the patient's final visual acuity (VA), defined as a binary variable based on the World Health Organization's criteria: good VA (better than 20/200) or poor VA (worse than 20/200). The secondary outcome was final intraocular pressure (IOP) at patients' final follow-ups. Risk factors for poor vision and higher IOP were assessed.

At final follow-up, 65 eyes (27.9%) had poor vision and 168 eyes (72.1%) had good vision. In the multivariate analysis, the odds ratio of good VA decreased by 4% for every 1 mmHg increase in initial IOP (P = 0.03), and the odds of good VA decreased by 6% for every year increase in age (P = 0.04). Patients with private insurance had a 3.5 mmHg lower final IOP than those with Medicaid (P = 0.004). Travel distance was not associated with a poorer visual outcome.

Private insurance patients had lower final IOP than Medicaid patients. Age and initial IOP were significant negative predictors of VA. Despite travel distance appearing to be associated with poorer visual outcomes by GIS mapping, it was not statistically significant. Geographic information system mapping of patient outcomes is an innovative way to visualize patient demographics and risk factors. Geographic information system may prove particularly useful in larger nationwide disease and surgical registries, especially for rare disorders like pediatric glaucoma.

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