RACIAL-DIFFERENCES IN THE PREVALENCE OF ATROPHIC-APPEARING MACULAR LESIONS BETWEEN BLACK-AND-WHITE PATIENTS WITH RETINITIS-PIGMENTOSA

We compared the prevalence of atrophic-appearing macular lesions betwe en black and white patients with isolated or various genetic types of retinitis pigmentosa to determine if an appreciable difference existed between these two groups. The study included 720 patients of whom 138 (19.2%) were black patients from 115 families and 582 (80.8%) were wh ite patients from 478 families. A logistic regression analysis combini ng isolated and all genetic types but randomly selecting one patient p er family showed a statistically significant difference in the prevale nce of atrophic-appearing macular: lesions between black and white pat ients for the right eye (P = .0012) and left eye (P = .002). When cons idering either all patients or one patient per family, the estimated o dds ratios were approximately 2.0 for blacks relative to whites. Our f indings indicate that black patients with retinitis pigmentosa are app roximately twice as likely as white patients to develop an atrophic-ap pearing macular lesion. This observation has implications for the prog nosis of central visual function in such patients.