FAMILY HISTORY OF PATIENTS IN CLINICAL RE SEARCH GROUP GLAUCOMA OF THE DFG (GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION)

Background Recent evidence of hereditary aspects of glaucomatous disea ses propose investigations on the family history of these diseases. Me thods All 467 persons who were referred to the glaucoma service of the ''Clinical Research Group 'Glaucoma''' of the German Research Foundat ion at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Erlangen-Nurnber g were questioned concerning glaucomatous diseases in their consanguin ity. Results 33.2% of all examined persons reported of at least one fa mily member with a glaucomatous disease. In 117 individuals no glaucom atous disease was detected, 24.8% of them reported of a positive famil y history for glaucoma. 37.9% of the 87 patients suffering from a mani fest open-angle glaucoma knew of glaucoma in their respective families . Of 11 patients (with a manifest open-angle glaucoma) a pedigree with affected members in at least three generations could be obtained. One patient suffered from a juvenile open angle-glaucoma with an autosoma l dominant trait. Conclusion The proportion of persons and patients wi th a familial history for a glaucomatous disease in a specialized cent er is higher than in field studies.