A new study funded by Fight for Sight could help speed up diagnosis of glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.

Researchers at City University London have found that it is possible to identify patients with glaucoma by monitoring how people watch TV.  Results from the study were published yesterday in the medical journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience and have since received worldwide media coverage.

Glaucoma describes a group of eye conditions that results in progressive damage to the optic nerve, leading to gradual loss of vision.  It’s estimated that up to half a million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed glaucoma, so the research has huge potential in detecting a disease, which, if diagnosed early, can prevent permanent damage.

The team at City, led by Professor David Crabb along with Dr Nicholas Smith and Dr Haogang Zhu, compared a group of 32 elderly people with healthy vision to 44 patients with a clinical diagnosis of glaucoma. Participants were shown three unmodified TV and film clips on a computer while an eye-tracking device recorded all eye movement, in particular the direction in which people were looking. These data were then used to produce detailed maps which enabled the diagnosis of glaucoma.

Early diagnosis is vital

David Crabb, Professor of Statistics and Vision Research, said: “These are early results but we’ve found we can identify patients with glaucoma by monitoring how people watch TV. This could make a huge difference in detecting or monitoring a disease which currently results in one in ten of all blindness registrations in the UK and about a million NHS appointments a year for those with the disease. Once the damage is done it cannot be reversed, so early diagnosis is vital for identifying a disease which will continue to get more prevalent as our population ages.”

Dr Dolores M Conroy, Director of Research at Fight for Sight said: “One of Fight for Sight’s six long-term goals is to enable conditions such as glaucoma to be detected earlier. Early diagnosis and treatment can stop people losing their sight, so we’re very pleased that this proof-of-principle eye movement study opens the door to developing a new clinical test for glaucoma. Furthermore it address one of the priorities for glaucoma research identified by the Sight Loss and Vision Priority Setting Partnership-a consultation with patients, relatives, carers and eye health professionals”