Background
: Glaucoma is one of the main causes of blindness throughout the world and the prevalence of glaucoma increases with the increasing numbers of elderly in our population. Typically, glaucoma occurs without any subjective symptoms until the late stage of the disease. Early detection of glaucoma by screening and therapeutic intervention are therfore of the highest importance for the prevention of blindness by glaucoma. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the importance of glaucoma screening in family practice.

Methods : We conducted glaucoma screenings by tonometry and direct opthalmoscopy in the health examination center of university hospital in Chungjoo. A total of 283 subjects were screened and patients with suspected abnormalities were referred to opthalmologist.

Results : The mean intraocular pressure obtained with Shiotz tonometry was 14.73mmHg and there was no sexual or age-related differences. Of 17 patients referred to opthalmologist 9 patients (3.18%) were confirmed as having glaucoma. The most common type of glaucoma was low tension glaucoma.

Conclusion : Glaucoma is the preventable cause of blindness and one of the objectvies of family medicine is early diagnosis and disease prevention. Therefore, we support the view that it is prerequisite to adopt glaucoma screening in health examination.