| 목적 : The purpose of this study was to determine, on the basis of Korean nationwide administrative data for the years 2007 - 2012, the correlation between the rates of laser iridotomy for primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) and those of cataract operation.방법 : Quarterly rates of laser iridotomy and cataract operation were obtained from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment service’s patient data for 2007 to the second quarter of 2012. The 20,614 PACG patients who had undergone laser iridotomy and the 1,487,527 who had undergone cataract operation were categorized first by gender and then, according to the following four groups, by age: 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, and ≥70 years. Relationships were examined using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. 결과 : The quarterly rates of PACG diagnosis for inpatients and outpatients per 100,000 population displayed a tendency to increase, specifically from 45.63 in the first quarter of 2007 to 49.56 in the second quarter of 2012. Contrastingly, the quarterly rates of laser iridotomy for treatment of PACG per 100,000 population tended to decrease, from 4.37 to 3.93; the quarterly rates of laser iridotomy per 100 PACG-diagnosed population, moreover, also showed a slow decline, from 9.59 to 7.94. Interestingly, the quarterly rates of cataract operation per 100,000 population showed a gradual increase, from 260.75 to 387.53. Spearman rank correlation coefficients revealed negative correlations between the quarterly laser iridotomy rates in PACG patients and the quarterly cataract operation rates in the entire group (r = -0.244, P = 0.273), the 50–59 years group (r = -0.064, P = 0.778), and the 60–69 years group (r = -0.024, P = 0.811). Meanwhile, significant negative correlations were observed in the 40–49 years group (r = -0.488, P = 0.021) and the ≥70 years group (r = -0.450, P = 0.036). By gender, negative correlations were observed for both the male group (r = -0.159, P = 0.481) and the female group (r = -0.229, P = 0.306), though without significance. 결론 : There was a negatively correlating tendency between the quarterly rates of laser iridotomy in PACG patients and the quarterly rates of cataract operation. Although other possible explanations might exist, this result supports the hypothesis that cataract operation contributes to reduce the incidence of laser iridotomy in PACG patients. |