An epidemiological study of the occurrence of angle-closure glaucoma was made under the Eskimos population of the Norton Sound and Bering Straits region of Alaska. Among 1673 Alaskan Natives examined 14 cases (0.8%) of angle-closure glaucoma were found, in 0.5% of the men and 1.2% of the women; for persons above the age of 40 years these figures were 2.1% and 5.5% respectively. Angle-closure glaucoma was found in 11.8% of women above the age of 60 years. A shallow anterior chamber was seen twice as frequently in women as in men. Above the age of 30 years the chamber angle was considered to be occludable in 2% of men and 7.5% of women on gonioscopic examination. The average intra-ocular pressure of the right eyes of men was 11.7 mm Hg (s.d. 3.3) and of women 12.0 mm Hg (s.d. 3.4). Primary open-angle glaucoma was not seen in the population being studied.
An epidemiological study of the prevalence of refractive errors was made of the Eskimo population of the Norton Sound and Bering Straits region of Alaska. It was possible to determine the subjective refraction in 83.7% of 1673 persons examined: 44.9% were emmetropic, 44.7% myopic and 10.4% hyperopic. Myopia was found more often in women (48.3%) than in men (41.3%), while emmetropia was found more often in men (49.3%) than in women (40.3%). Nine,four percent of the men were hyperopic and 11.4% of the women. The prevalence of myopia increased with age, with a maximum of 67.2% in the age group between 30 and 40 years. Subsequently, the number of myopes decreased rapidly. Little hyperopia was seen before the age of 50 years, it then increased rapidly, up to 71.5% for persons above the age of 80 years. Emmetropia, on the other hand, decreased with age. Ultrasound examination showed that an increasing axial length was associated with more myopia.
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