Aim: Study of the long-term development of children with treatment for ocular hypertension (OHT).Purpose: IOP development, to detect risk factors and clinical features in children with OHT.
Method:A retrospective, descriptive and non-randomized study of 42 children treated for OHT, with a mean follow-up of 11.6 years.Results: Most common family history: glaucoma (58%) and myopia (23%). The most frequent systemic pathological history was of airways disease, related in many instances to the use of corticosteroids. The most prevalent refractive error was found to be myopia (55%). The most frequent reason for first time consultation was vision loss. The mean central corneal thickness found was 562 μm ± 41. The diagnosis of childhood glaucoma using campimetry is difficult, since it relies on patient cooperation. In most cases, optic disc assessment, both ophthalmoscopically and using OCT, was not found to be reliable. The mean age of suspected OHT is 11 years old, usually considering abnormal pressure above 18 mmHg, and initiating treatment at 22 mmHg. The mean decrease through topical hypotensive medication was 4.7 mmHg, with no significant adverse effects registered. Forty-six percent of children abandoned medical treatment, after several years of control, upon verifying that IOP was normal.Conclusions: Some children maintain high levels of IOP. Half of them will normalize their IOP around the age of 20, but others will maintain OHT being adults. The response to medical treatment was sufficient in all the cases.In the literature review, we did not find any series of children with OHT as extensive or over such a long period of time.