There was a more than 80% increase in glaucoma surgeries over an 8-year period from 2013 to 2021, according to digital health data company Verana Health. The Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS Registry Report found that, during this time, more than 1 million glaucoma procedures were performed.

Findings from the report show shifts in the breakdown of procedure types. Trabeculectomies reached a high of 14,600 procedures in 2015, then declined to 9,300 by 2021. At the same time, there was an increase in trabecular meshwork bypass stent implantation.

“By de-identifying, harmonizing, and tokenizing IRIS Registry data within our VeraQ platform across dozens of EHR systems — and often linking it with claims data — we broaden the view of the ophthalmic patient journey,” said Michael Mbagwu, MD, adjunct clinical instructor of ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and medical director at Verana Health in a news release. “Verana Health also curates this structured and unstructured data at scale to produce high-quality data modules, Ophthalmology Qdata, which help power valuable clinical and therapeutic insights. The expanding number of studies utilizing IRIS Registry data demonstrates how this endeavor is driving medical innovations.”

The IRIS Registry incorporates data on nearly 72 million patients and more than 434 million billable visits contributed by nearly 3,000 ophthalmology practices.