Relation between some forms of glaucoma and phenylthiocarbamide tasting.

Abstract

(i 964a, b) reported data suggesting significant associations between taster status and glaucoma. In particular they found, in both Caucasian and Negro samples in St. Louis, U.S.A., that there were significantly more non-tasters among patients with "primary open-angle" glaucoma and significantly fewer among those with "primary angle-closure" glaucoma. In addition, they reported an increased prevalence of non-tasters among "primary open-angle" glaucoma suspects without loss of visual field. Small samples of glaucoma patients have since been investigated in Japan in respect of taster status, and the results either supported these findings (Takahashi, I969) or were inconclusive (Suzuki, Takeuchi, and Kitazawa, I966).The purpose of this study was to see whether any association between taster status and glaucoma could be demonstrated in a sample of London glaucoma patients. MethodsPhenylthiocarbamide tests by the method of Harris and Kalmus (I949) were performed over several months on patients attending the Glaucoma Clinic of Moorfields Eye Hospital, High Holborn Branch; the controls were other patients attending the same hospital and a previously reported group of normal Londoners (Harris and Kalmus, 1949). The diagnosis was based on full glaucoma assessment, including repeated measurements of intraocular pressure, gonioscopy, appearance of the optic discs, and central visual field findings. Altogether 569 patients were investigated in the Glaucoma Clinic, of whom 436 had some overt form of glaucoma and 72 were found to have ocular hypertension (above 24 mm. Hg on repeated occasions without field-loss).Patients with pseudoexfoliate and pigmentary glaucoma have been classified separately. The rest were non-glaucomatous and were included with the controls. There were twenty non-Caucasians among the sample, and these were excluded from the analysis leaving a total of 418 glaucomatous and seventy hypertensive patients. These were classified as shown in Table I (overleaf).In Table I it was attempted to classify the patients in the same way as those of Becker and Morton (i 964a, b), but a separate class had to be formed for those whose type of glaucoma could not be positively determined.

The genetics of phenylthiocarbamide perception

“…There have been reports of associations or lack of associations between PTC taste status and diseases and traits not directly related to taste. These include diabetes (Terry and Segall 1947, Terry 1950, Akesson 1959b, Bayani-Sioson 1964, Schelling, Tetreault, Lasagna et al 1965, Rao and Sisodia 1970, Ali, Azad Khan, Mahtab et al 1994, dental caries (Chung, Witkop and Henry 1962), eye disease (Becker and Morton 1964, Suzuki, Takeuchi and Kitazawa 1966, Alsbirk and Alsbirk 1972, Kalmus and Lewkonia 1973, thyroid disorders (Harris, Kallmus and Trotter 1949, Kitchin, Howel-Evans, Clarke et al 1959, Shepard and Gartler 1960, Fraser 1961, Shepard 1961, Brand 1963, Hollingsworth 1963, Bayani-Sioson 1964, Azevedo, Krieger, Mi et al 1965a, Covarrubias, Barzelatto, Stevenson et al 1965, De Luca and Cramarossa 1965, Paolucci, Ferro-Luzzi, Modiano et al 1971, Mendez de Araujo, Salzano and Wolff 1972, Persson, Kolendorf and Kolendorf 1972, Facchini, Abbati and Campagnoni 1990, Haque 1990, Koertvelyessy and Crawford 1990, Facchini, Pettener, Rimondi et al 1997, schizophrenia (Freire-Maia, Karam, Mehl et al 1968, Schlosberg andBaruch 1992), gastrointestinal ulcers (Kaplan, Fischer, Glanville et al 1964, Stanchev, Tsonev and Minchev 1985, Li, McIntosh, Byth et al 1990), depression …”

Is primary open‐angle glaucoma part of a generalized sensory neurodegeneration? A review of the evidence

“…They further reported that the severity is most often worse in open‐angle cases or suspects 126 . This finding was later contradicted using the same methods, with the conclusion that taste sensitivity was similar across all glaucoma groups and controls, of a similar age, and that the testing of gustatory function is unreliable without consideration of other factors known to affect taste sensitivity, such as smoking, ethnicity and diet 127 …”