Table 1.

Criteria for Evaluating Adherence with Recommended Follow-Up Visits for Glaucoma Patients in a County Hospital Population. These were general guidelines for the study cohort, though each patient was reviewed individually based on recommended and actual follow-up patterns when assigning follow-up status.

	Glaucoma Disease Severity
	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Follow-up recommendations 1	Every 5–6 months (approximately 2 visits/year)	Every 4–5 months (approximately 3 visits/year)	Every 3–4 months (approximately 4 visits/year)
Good follow-up	≥2 visits, with 5–6 month maximum intervals between visits	≥3 visits, with 4–5 month maximum intervals between visits	≥3 visits, with 3–4 month maximum intervals between visits
Poor follow-up	≤1 visit or extended interval between visits	≤2 visits or extended interval between visits	≤2 visits or extended intervals between visits

¹Glaucoma disease severity was evaluated based on the American Academy of Ophthalmology Preferred Practice Patterns guidelines for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and POAG suspects. Mild: Characteristic optic nerve abnormalities are consistent with glaucoma, but the visual field is normal. Moderate: Visual field abnormalities exist in one hemifield and are not within central 5 degrees of fixation. Severe: Visual field abnormalities exist in both hemifields or visual field loss is within central 5 degrees of fixation.