Intraocular Pressure and its Relationship to Ocular and Systemic Factors in a Healthy Chinese Rural Population: The Handan Eye Study

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the distribution of and factors related to intraocular pressure (IOP) in a healthy adult rural Chinese population in northern China.

Methods: The Handan Eye Study is a cross-sectional, population-based study of eye diseases among 6,830 (90.4% response rate) rural Chinese persons aged 30+ years. Participants underwent an interviewer-administered questionnaire and a complete ocular examination, including standardized measurement of IOP with Perkins applanation tonometry.

Results: After excluding persons with glaucoma, or those with diseases that have a marked effect on IOP or that preclude accurate IOP measurement, 6,101 persons were included in the current analysis. Mean IOP (mean ± standard deviation) of the study population was 15.0 ± 2.8 mmHg. Men had lower IOP than women (14.6 ± 2.8 mmHg versus 15.4 ± 2.7 mmHg, t = −8.37, P < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis younger age, female sex, presence of diabetes mellitus, higher blood pressure, higher body mass index, thicker central cornea and higher myopia were associated with higher IOP.

Conclusions: Mean IOP among persons living in rural northern China was similar to that recently reported in southern China. IOP appeared to be lower with increasing age in Chinese subjects, which contrasts with results in white populations.

KEYWORDS::

• Population-based study
• Intraocular pressure
• Applanation tonometry
• Risk factors
• Chinese

Financial Support: This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), Grant 2007CB512201 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, the Program of Health Policy for blindness prevention from the Ministry of Health, People’s Republic of China. Partially funded by the Key Technologies R&D Program no. 2006–10903 from the Bureau of Science and Technology of Handan City, Hebei Province, China. With additional support from Beijing Tongren Hospital and the Key Discipline Fund of the Bureau of Health, Handan City, Hebei Province, China.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.