Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness around the world. The burden of blindness due to this in western world can be assessed by the fact that 2.25 million individuals aged 40 years and older have primary open angle glaucoma in United States . The figures from India is even more staggering. In India more than 10 million individuals aged 40 years and older have glaucoma and primary open angle glaucoma is estimated to affect more than 6 million persons. Out of these 6 million

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... ls more than 1.6 million have significant visual impairment. The pathology in primary open angle glaucoma can be described as acquired loss of optic nerve fibers due to chronic, progressive and multifactorial optic neuropathy which is generally irreversible. The progression of disease is relentless and the chances of vision loss in untreated cases are very high. The disease progression is silent and patients may realize about vision loss in late stages adding to the difficulties in treating open angle glaucoma. Thus it is important to screen the suspects and identify those who are at risk of developing primary open angle glaucoma so that they can be treated at an appropriate time. It is crucial to arrest the progression of open angle glaucoma before significant loss of vision occurs. We conducted this study to analyse clinical profile of primary open angle glaucoma suspects and study whether they develop glaucomatous field defects as early as 6 months. Methods: The study was approved by institutional ethical committee. In this prospective study of 4796 adult patients coming to general outpatient department of ophthalmology of a tertiary care institute situated in an urban area were screened. Out of these patients 52 patients who were primary open angle glaucoma suspects underwent thorough examination and they were followed up periodically for 6 months from their first visit. Patients were included in this study on the basis of a predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data was tabulated and analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version software. Results: In our study, the total prevalence of primary open angle glaucoma suspects was found to be 1.08%. Prevalence of Ocular hypertensives being 0.31% and that of normal tension glaucoma suspects was 0.77%. Maximum age adjusted prevalence was found to be 2.83% in the age group of 50-59 years. Gender adjusted prevalence of POAG suspects was more for males as compared to females. Out of 52 POAG suspects 2 developed glaucomatous field defects at the end of 6 months while 2 more NTG suspects and I OHT who could be followed up for 1 year developed glaucomatous field defects at the end of 1 year follow up. Thinner central cornea was found to be a risk factor for progression to primary open angle glaucoma. Conclusion: With millions of affected individuals in India POAG remains a significant health Problem associated with the risk of significant visual loss. Since it remains asymptomatic till late stages it's a challenge to detect and treat this disease at an appropriate stage and hence it's important to screen the individuals for presence of this disease.