THE INFLUENCE OF AGE UPON INFLAMMATORY CELL COUNTS AND STRUCTURE OF CONJUNCTIVA IN CHRONIC OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA

We evaluated the influence of age upon conjunctival structure and numb er of inflammatory cells by studying perioperative conjunctival biopsi es from 54 consecutive primary open-angle glaucoma patients undergoing initial filtering surgery (trabeculectomy alone or combined cataract extraction and trabeculectomy). All patients had received chronic topi cal glaucoma therapy for >1 year. We divided the patients into three a ge groups for analysis: 40-60 (n = 10), 61-74 (n = 28), and >75 (n = 1 6) years. We found no statistical difference (p > 0.05, chi-square) in cell counts of neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells, macrophages, fib roblasts, lymphocytes, plasma cells and goblet cells across the three age groups. In addition, no statistical differences were observed betw een age groups in vascular density, epithelial thickness as well as mu copolysaccharide and collagen composition (p > 0.05, chi square). This study suggests that conjunctival structure and inflammatory cell coun ts change little with advancing age in primary open-angle glaucoma pat ients.