The prevalence of glaucoma in indigenous Australians within Central Australia: the Central Australian Ocular Health Study

Abstract

This equated to 36% of those aged ≥20 years and 67% of those aged ≥40 years within this district. Slit-lamp examination of the anterior segment and intraocular pressure measurement, followed by stereoscopic slit-lamp fundoscopy of the optic nerve was performed. Selected patients underwent automated visual field testing. The diagnosis of glaucoma was based on pre-existing definitions. Glaucoma prevalence data are presented. Results: Seventeen individuals had glaucoma (0.90%). Causes of secondaryglaucoma were found in 4 with neovascular glaucoma, 2 with uveitic glaucoma and 4 who had developed glaucoma subsequent to trauma or surgery. The remaining 7 had no identifiable cause for their glaucoma and were thus classified as open-angle glaucoma equating to a prevalence of 0.52% (95% C.I 0.14 to 0.90) for those aged ≥40 years. Of these, 4 had an IOP ≤21 mmHg and 3 had an IOP >21 mmHg. Conclusion:The prevalence of open-angle glaucoma among indigenous Australians within central Australia was 0.52% for those aged ≥40 years. After adjustment for the age distribution of our sample, this is one third the prevalence seen among the nonindigenous Australian population and is despite a higher prevalence of ocular parameters considered to be associated with glaucoma.

Prevalence of glaucoma in the Australian National Eye Health Survey

“…The finding of a low prevalence of definite glaucoma among Indigenous participants (0.6%) is remarkably similar to previous Australian studies, the CAOHS (0.57%)10 and the National Trachoma and Eye Health Project (0.4%) 24. These findings seem counterintuitive, given that higher rates of known glaucoma risk factors 11 12 25.…”

“…This is despite the presence of large optic nerve heads with associated increased cup to disc ratios,11 higher rates of pseudoexfoliation syndrome12 and thinner central corneal thickness13 that has been consistently found among Indigenous Australians. This was highlighted recently in the Central Australian Ocular Health Study (CAOHS, 2010), where the reported prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma in Indigenous Australians aged 40 years and over was only 0.52% 10. However, robust comparisons among Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations have been problematic due to the adoption of different definitions for the classification of glaucoma among the various studies.…”

Nigeria Normative Data for Defining Glaucoma in Prevalence Surveys

“…Other glaucoma studies of normative values in Africa, [5][6][7] Asia, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][26][27][28] Australia, 35 Europe 36 and South America 37 report a VCDR of 0.7 to be the 97.5th VCDR for level 1 evidence but there is wide variation in the values for other parameters ( Table 6). Some of these studies 9,12,26,27,29-31 used values derived from previous studies in the region.…”

Analysis of Glaucoma Subtypes and Corresponding Demographics in a New Zealand Population

“…The Central Australian Ocular Health Study reported a prevalence of open-angle glaucoma among the indigenous Australian people to be a third of the prevalence of nonindigenous Australians [10]. Another study found that there were no cases of chronic open-angle glaucoma or acute angle-closure glaucoma among their Papua New Guinean patients [11].…”