Exfoliation syndrome. Prevalence in a southeastern United States population
L. F. Cashwell Jr and M. B. Shields
Department of Ophthalmology, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
A prospective study of 2121 patients in the southeastern United States
having no evidence of glaucoma, suspected of having primary open angle
glaucoma, having primary open angle glaucoma, or having open angle glaucoma
with exfoliation syndrome revealed an overall prevalence of exfoliation
syndrome of 1.6% and a prevalence in the glaucoma subpopulation of 6.0%.
All but one of the 33 patients with exfoliation syndrome were at least 60
years of age, and the prevalence of exfoliation syndrome in the subgroup of
1000 patients in this age group was 3.2%. Among the patients in this age
group who did not have open angle glaucoma, 1.6% had exfoliation syndrome,
and this prevalence was significantly less than those reported in studies
from other geographic areas.
