Inferring glaucoma status from prescriptions, diagnoses, and operations data: A Danish nationwide study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Glaucoma diagnosis and management rely on various clinical and prescription data.
• Inferring glaucoma status from prescription patterns can enhance epidemiological studies.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the real-world prevalence and progression of glaucoma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel method for determining glaucoma status using prescription claims data.
• To assess the correlation between prescription data and established glaucoma diagnostic criteria.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Danish National Prescription Registry data (1995-2018) for 223,592 individuals.
• Inferred glaucoma status based on claimed prescriptions, ICD-10 diagnoses, and glaucoma surgeries.
• Compared prescription-based inference with in-hospital diagnoses and surgical records.

Main Results:

• A single prescription claim strongly correlated with a composite glaucoma measure (R² = 0.80, kappa = 80%).
• Anti-glaucomatous prescriptions demonstrated 88% sensitivity for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in diagnosed patients.
• Glaucoma prevalence increased, incidence remained constant, and non-compliance was below 11.8% over two decades.

Conclusions:

• Anti-glaucomatous medication prescription data serve as a reliable proxy for inferring glaucoma status.
• This method holds significant utility for large-scale epidemiological research on glaucoma.
• High sensitivity observed for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) underscores the method's potential.