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Study review: Race and glaucoma-causing genes linked
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MAUI, Hawaii --Underlying genetic factors linked to race may explain why blacks have a higher rate of open-angle glaucoma than whites, said Leon W. Herndon, MD, here during Hawaii 2003: the Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting
Through a comprehensive review of previous studies on this matter, Dr. Herndon showed that blacks have been shown to have a higher prevalence and incidence of primary open-angle glaucoma than their white counterparts. Data from the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study shows this racial effect may be due to thinner central corneas and larger cup-to-disc ratios.
“Black normals have significantly thinner corneas than white normals, too,” he said.
Different medications have also been shown to have historically different responses between white and black patients. For example, Dr. Herndon pointed to a study that showed black OAG patients required a higher concentration of timolol than their white counterparts to reduce IOP a similar amount. Other studies show black patients’ results with Travatan (Alcon) and Xalatan (Pharmacia) are different than those of whites, he added.
“But clearly, head-to-head drug comparisons need to be completed before any conclusions can be drawn,” he said.
Dr. Herndon believes differences in drug responses by race can be traced to genetic variances. “Genetic influences are likely to explain this increased susceptibility,” Dr. Herndon said. “The future lies in continued genetic discovery, as we bypass race and go directly to the genetic markers that might correlate with drug response or disease.”