Association of sex with the global burden of glaucoma: an analysis from the global burden of disease study 2017

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the association of sex with the global burden of glaucoma by year, age and socio-economic status using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Method: The global, regional and national sex-specific DALY numbers, crude DALY rates and age-standardized DALY rates caused by glaucoma, by year and age, were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Human development index (HDI) in 2017 as a national socio-economic indicator was obtained from the Human Development Report. t-Test and linear regression were performed to explore the association between sex difference in age-standardized DALY rates and HDI. Results: Globally, changes in glaucoma DALY number and crude rates were similar of both sexes between 1990 and 2017. After controlling for population size and age structure, age-standardized DALY rates decreased consistently from 10.7 in 1990 to 9.4 in 2017 among men and from 8.8 in 1990 to 8.0 in 2017 among women. In 2017, the global average age-standardized DALY rates were 11.6 ± 8.6 (mean ± standard deviation) in women and 14.9 ± 12.1 in men. The sex difference in age-standardized DALY of 195 countries was significant (t = 3.109; p