Racial differences in intraocular tension and glaucoma surgery.

A total of 4678 persons participated in an Allegheny County, Pennsylvania glaucoma screening program in 1977. Black participants had higher mean intraocular pressures, more frequent pathologic disc changes and more new cases of glaucoma discovered than a sample of white participants matched for sex and age. The same year, in a younger population of 2127 health center employees, the higher prevalence of pathologic disc changes was confirmed, although differences in mean intraocular pressures were variable. Blacks accounted for 23% of hospitalizations for chronic open-angle glaucoma during a three-year period (1975-1977) in 10 Pennsylvania counties, rather than the expected 6.3%. Among those hospitalized for open-angle glaucoma or having anterior chamber surgery, blacks were younger than whites.