FEMALE PREPONDERANCE IN NORMAL-TENSION GLAUCOMA

Many risk factors for normal-tension glaucoma have been described. One of these risk factors requires further emphasis: Women. We evaluated the relative preponderance of women among the cases of normal-tension glaucoma reported in the literature between 1981 and 1993. We also ana lyzed our own consecutive cases between November 1990 and November 199 2. We found a significant preponderance for women among the cases of n ormal-tension glaucoma reported in the literature (22 papers; 931 pati ents; frequency of women=64.5%) as well as among our own patients (n=4 1; frequency of women=63%). There were no significant differences betw een men and women among our normal-tension-glaucoma patients with rega rd to the risk factors analyzed. An increased prevalence of risk facto rs, such as migraine, in women among the general population is known. Whether the relative preponderance of women among normal-tension glauc oma patients is due to an increased prevalence of known risk factors i n women, or whether the female sex represents an unrelated additional risk factor, remains to be clarified.