Modern view on the epidemiology, risk factors, prevention and screening of pseudoexfoliation syndrome in the context of glaucoma prophylaxis

Aim: The analysis of current data on the epidemiology of pseudoexfoliative syndrome (PES) and risk factors for its development, determination of the possibility of early detection of PES through screening to prevent the development of glaucoma. Materials and Methods: The literature review was carried out using publications indexed in the scientometric databases PubMed and Scopus. A structured search was performed with the use of relevant keywords and their logical combinations, including: prevalence, morbidity, complications, pseudoexfoliation syndrome, glaucoma, pseudoexfoliative glaucoma, vision loss, blindness, risk factors, intraocular pressure, prevention, early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, screening, and others. The review is primarily based on recent studies; however, a significant proportion of earlier publications (dating back to 1997) was deliberately included to provide a historical perspective and to highlight the evolution of scientific knowledge in this field. Totally, 44 sources were analyzed. The analysis employed formal-logical and systemic-complex methods, ensuring a comprehensive and critical synthesis of the available evidence. Conclusions: Early diagnosis of PES is necessary to prevent the development and progression of pseudoexfoliative glaucoma, which leads to blindness. Therefore, the development of a screening algorithm and its implementation for at-risk patients – people over 50 years old – is relevant. For patients diagnosed with PES, it is important to regularly visit an ophthalmologist to monitor the possible development of glaucoma.