The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study

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Abstract
IN ALL SURVEYS, glaucoma is among the leading causes of blindness in the United States and other industrialized countries.1-3 By the year 2000, it is estimated that 2.47 million people in the United States will have glaucoma and that more than 130,540 persons will be legally blind from the disease.4 Many more individuals will be visually handicapped by this disease.5,6 Epidemiological studies have found that fewer than 50% of cases of visual field loss due to glaucoma have been diagnosed.7-9 It is now clear that glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in African Americans.2,10,11 In the Baltimore Eye Survey, the age-adjusted prevalence rates of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) were 4 to 5 times higher in African Americans than in whites, ranging from 1.2% in African Americans aged 40 through 49 years to 11.3% in those 80 years or older.12 The Barbados Eye Study in a Carribean population of African origin confirmed the high prevalence of glaucoma in such populations.7 The 4-year incidence rate of POAG in this population was 2.2% overall and 5.8% among persons with ocular hypertension,13 which is more than 5 times higher than the estimated incidence in a predominantly white population.14