Risk factors for glaucoma suspicion in healthy young asian and caucasian americans.

E Lauren Doss,Travis Porco,Melike Pekmezci,Ying Han,Susan Huang,Linden Doss,Shan Lin

doi:10.1155/2014/726760

Abstract

Purpose. To determine the prevalence of certain risk factors for glaucoma in a healthy, young population and to compare these risk factors between Asian Americans and Caucasians. Methods. 120 healthy graduate students (mean age 24.8 ± 3.0 years) underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination. Regression analyses controlling for age, sex, and refraction, comparing glaucoma risk factors in Asians (n = 54) and Caucasians (n = 41), were performed. Outcome variables included family history, intraocular pressure (IOP), spherical equivalent, central corneal thickness (CCT), mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD), and disc and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) parameters. Results. 61% of subjects were female; the mean spherical equivalent was −3.81 ± 3.2 D; and the mean axial length (AL) was 25.1 ± 1.7 mm. Regression analysis showed race affected spherical equivalent (P < 0.001), AL (P = 0.0073), IOP (P < 0.001), and cup to disc area ratio (CDAR) (P = 0.012). Family history, CCT, MD, and PSD did not vary between Asians and Caucasians (P > 0.05). In this study, we found Asian Americans, compared to Caucasians, had 2.95 ± 0.64 D greater myopia; greater IOP by 2.74 ± 0.62 mmHg; and larger CDAR by 0.12 ± 0.046. Conclusions. In our study population, young, healthy Asian Americans had greater myopia, IOP, and CDAR as compared to Caucasians, suggesting that racial variations can be important when diagnosing glaucoma.

Highlights

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide with significant prevalence in Asians [1,2,3]
When myopia was examined as a potential confounder in optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements, as expected, uncorrected parameters measured by OCT exhibited a strong trend toward decreasing size as myopia increased
Our results indicate that in a selected population of young, healthy graduate students, Asian American ethnicity, independent of age or sex, is associated with an oculometric profile marked by greater intraocular pressure (IOP), increased myopia, and larger cup to disc area ratio (CDAR) compared to Caucasian American ethnicity

Summary

Introduction

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide with significant prevalence in Asians [1,2,3]. The disease is characterized by gradual loss of retinal ganglion cells leading to thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and subsequent increase in the cup to disc ratio [4]. An increased risk of glaucoma may be indicated by a host of ocular biometrics including optic nerve parameters [4], central corneal thickness (CCT) [5], intraocular pressure (IOP) [6,7,8], and family history of glaucoma [8, 9]. A better understanding of the glaucoma risk factors in this population would promote greater public and medical awareness for glaucoma prevention and aid in its early recognition

Methods

Results

Conclusion