Is There a Racial Difference in Physiologic Cup Size?

The definition and classification of glaucoma in prevalence surveys

“…For example, there is evidence that the disc size and CDR in African-Americans is larger than in European-Americans, although the area of the neuroretinal rim is similar. [19][20][21] However, a recent report cited 97.5th and 99.5th percentile figures for VCDR distribution in a population in the Netherlands as 0.73 and 0.78 respectively. 22 These are remarkably similar to those found in Asian populations ( Table 1).…”

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Ocular Anatomy

“…Racial variation must be taken into consideration because there may be some people with large disc and thinner neural rims that will be given false diagnoses or more often referred for glaucoma. 62 From evaluation of stereoscopic photographs taken from 100 black and 100 white patients, Beck and associates 63 reported the average C/D ratio in blacks as 0.35 and in whites as 0.24 (p < .0001). They also reported that 40% percent of the optic discs of blacks and 14% of the optic discs of whites had a C/D ratio greater than or equal to 0.4.…”

Axial length and optic disc size in normal eyes

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] There is a possible link between open-angle glaucoma and myopia, but the mechanism responsible for this relationship is still unknown. 7 8 Further, black people are known to have relatively larger discs compared with white people, [9][10][11][12][13][14] and there is a higher prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma with higher rates of blindness in the first group. 7 15-17 The purpose of this study was to assess optic disc topography and axial length in a population of black and white normal subjects, and to determine whether optic disc area is related to axial length.…”