Anterior Chamber Depth and Primary Angle‐closure Glaucoma

The anterior chamber depth (ACD) was measured by optical pachymetry in 60 Eskimos with primary angle‐closure glaucoma (a.c.g.). They lived in seven medical districts from nearly all parts of Greenland, in locations with a total of 2,800 Eskimo inhabitants over 40 years. Out of these, an ACD survey, recently described, covered 1,072. The a.c.g. patients had been ascertained by symptoms or through screenings. Prevalence rates are given according to epidemiologic method, age, and sex, totalling 1.6% in males and 5.1% in females, on an average 3.5%. The risk of a.c.g. at various levels of ACD was estimated in the survey population. The ACD mean value of the a.c.g. patients closely agreed with that of the Caucasian series. On the other hand, in Eskimos the mean value of the general population was only 0.5 mm above the mean ACD found in a.c.g. patients, whereas in Caucasians this difference is reported to be about 1.0 mm. An attempt is made to explain the ethnic variation and the sex difference with respect to prevalence of a.c.g. simply in terms of the ACD distribution.