Glaucoma in Blacks

In March 1987, the Division of Ophthalmology at Howard University, Washington, DC, and St Croix (Virgin Islands) Hospital sponsored a symposium on glaucoma. This effort represented a recognition that the black population of the United States, particularly the economically disadvantaged, and the predominantly black population of the Caribbean basin share an increased risk of visual loss from glaucoma. Several investigators have noted that blacks represent a disproportionate share of the glaucoma population.¹,²They are also at several times greater risk for blindness from this disease.³,⁴While relatively little information is available on the prevalence of nonblinding glaucoma in blacks, the 1.4% rate reported by Wallace and Lovell⁵in Jamaica is in contrast to the 0.47% prevalence reported by Hollows and Graham⁶using a similar study design in Wales. Other studies have reported rates from 0.41% to 0.86% in Western Europe.⁷⁻¹⁰A higher prevalence of glaucoma