Age-specific prevalence of open-angle glaucoma and its relationship to refraction among more than 60,000 asymptomatic Japanese subjects

doi:10.1016/S0895-4356(01)00388-2

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

Volume 54, Issue 11, November 2001, Pages 1151-1158

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(01)00388-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

To clarify the prevalence of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and its relationship to refraction among a Japanese population with a broad range of ages including children and adolescents, an 1-year epidemiological survey was conducted. The subjects of this study were 64,394 asymptomatic individuals who had attended the glasses and contact lens center in Yokohama, Japan from February 15, 1999 to February 14, 2000 and had been subjected to several optical examinations. The results of this study showed that the overall prevalence of OAG was 1.19% (1.14% for men, and 0.98% for women). Prevalence for children aged 6 to 14 of both sexes was approximately 0.5%. There were significant positive associations between the strength (diopter) of myopic refraction and OAG prevalence among all the examined subjects.

Introduction

Glaucoma is one of most common eye diseases in Japan; a survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare [1] estimated that there were approximately 316,000 glaucoma patients in Japan in 1996. Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is the most common type of glaucoma. OAG progresses without symptoms in most cases, and subjective symptoms do not appear until the late stage of the disease [2]. Therefore, it is very common that the OAG cannot be diagnosed before the examinations of intraocular pressure (IOP), fundus, or visual field [2]. Because glaucoma causes an irreversible visual field defect by optic disc damage eventually leads to blindness, it is one of the main causes for blindness in the world and in Japan 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. However, OAG-related blindness is preventable if detected early or treated appropriately in the early stage [2]. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of OAG is crucial for the prevention of the disease development.

Many epidemiological studies have been performed for glaucoma in Western countries 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and in Japan 20, 21. These studies have clarified that the prevalence of OAG increases with age, and that OAG was closely associated with refraction error. However, most of these studies were conducted for a middle-aged and older population, and there have been no studies surveying subjects of a broad range of ages, including children or adolescents. We attempted to clarify the age-specific prevalence of OAG and its relationship to refraction among more than 60,000 asymptomatic Japanese subjects aged 6 years or more who attended a glasses and contact lens center in Yokohama for the purpose of prescription of glasses or contact lenses.

Section snippets

Subjects

We identified 65,112 clients (29,476 men and 35,636 women), ranging in age from 6 to 98 years, who attended the glasses and contact lens center in Yokohama for prescription of glasses or contact lenses from February 15, 1999 to February 14, 2000. We informed the these clients of the purpose of this study and the nature of the examinations before the primary and secondary examinations. If the clients were below 18 years, informed consent was obtained from both the clients and their parents; this

Results

Table 1 shows the number and mean age of subjects by age and sex. A total of 64,394 people (29,237 men, and 35,157 women) were enrolled in the study. The number of women exceeded that of men for seven age groups, except for the 65–74 age group. For both sexes, the subjects aged 15–24 constituted the largest age group (8,731 men, and 10,723 women), and the smallest groups was age 75–98 (401 men, and 576 women). Age distributions of subjects were similar for men and women.

Table 2 shows the number

Discussion

There have been many epidemiological studies on glaucoma in Western countries 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. In 1958, Leydheeker reported that glaucoma was observed for 2.3% of the German population aged 40 years or more [8]. In Japan, Suda reported that the prevalence of glaucoma was approximately 1.5% among subjects aged 30 years or more in 1962 [20]. However, because these studies diagnosed glaucoma on the basis of measured IOP, it was pointed out that this procedure could lead

Acknowledgements

The authors deeply thank the staff of the glasses and contact lens center, Tokai Megane Contact, for their assistance. This study was supported by official funding from Kyorin University School of Medicine.

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Original articleAge-specific prevalence of open-angle glaucoma and its relationship to refraction among more than 60,000 asymptomatic Japanese subjects

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Subjects

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Am J Ophthalmol

Ophthalmol

Ophthalmol

Ophthalmol

The epidemiology of open-angle glaucomaa review

Am J Epidemiol

Bedford Glaucoma Survey

Br Med J

Racial variations in the prevalence of primary open-angle glaucomathe Baltimore Eye Survey

JAMA

The Barbados Eye Studyprevalence of open angle glaucoma

Arch Ophthalmol

The current state of visual disturbance in Japan

J Health Welfare Statistics

Der intraokular Druck gesunder menschlicher Augen

Klin Mbl Augenheilk

Intra-ocular pressure, glaucoma, and glaucoma suspects in a defined population

Br J Ophthalmol

The Framingham eye study monograph

Survey Ophthalmol (suppl)

The prevalence of glaucoma

Br J Ophthalmol

Original article
Age-specific prevalence of open-angle glaucoma and its relationship to refraction among more than 60,000 asymptomatic Japanese subjects