Vascular risk factors for primary open angle glaucoma: The Egna-Neumarkt Study☆
Section snippets
Patients and methods
The entire population more than 40 years of age from the Egna-Neumarkt area of the South Tyrol, Italy, comprising 11 rural districts in the vicinity of Bolzano, was eligible.
The investigation was carried out in a specially equipped screening center by specifically trained medical staff, periodically subjected to quality control, according to procedures described in a prepared operating manual.
The study was conducted in three phases. At the first screening visit, a medical history questionnaire
Results
One thousand eight hundred eighty-two men and 2415 women were examined from a total population of 5816 for an overall participation rate of 73.9%. The composition of the sample together with the participation rates according to sex and age have been analyzed in detail in a previous article.20 Table 1 shows the overall prevalence of OH and of the different forms of glaucoma in the population studied. Table 2 gives details of the association between systemic blood pressure and age-adjusted IOP.
Discussion
Although OH is generally regarded as being the main risk factor for glaucoma, there can be no doubt, especially in the primary open-angle form, that other factors make a decisive contribution toward increasing the vulnerability of the optic nerve and generating the typical anatomic–functional damage that characterizes this disease.
According to the vascular or ischemic hypothesis, glaucomatous damage is caused by, or at least facilitated by, inadequate perfusion of the proximal portion of the
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Supported in part by Regione Trentino Alto Adige, Bolzano, and Merck, Sharp, and Dohme, Roma, Italy.