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Small racial differences in disc parameters seen
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Small differences between black and white patients were seen in some optic disc parameters in a study described here.
Christopher A. Girkin, MD, who spoke here at the International Society for Imaging in the Eye meeting, said most of the variation in optic disc tomography between black and white patients is due to differences in disc area or reference plane height. But small differences in a few parameters persist when these are factored out.
Dr. Girkin and colleagues studied Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II images of 146 eyes of 73 blacks and 97 eyes of 53 whites. They found that small but statistically significant differences persisted in measurements of cup depth and cup-to-disc ratio. Blacks were found to have a 0.02-mm deeper mean cup depth, a 0.08-mm deeper maximum cup depth and a 0.05-mm larger horizontal cup-to-disc ratio than white patients, Dr. Girkin said.
During a question-and-answer period, one audience member noted that in her studies, the most dramatic difference in cup depth and cup-to-disc ratio between blacks and whites was in the 18- to 20-year-old group.
“The mean age group of the blacks that participated in the study was 45 years old, and there was no age association with the parameters,” Dr. Girkin noted. He also mentioned that there is more promise in studying adolescent eyes of black patients because of the disc structure.