Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality associated with ocular pseudoexfoliation

PURPOSE: In recent years, several studies have shown the presence of vascul ar, cardiac, and other organ pseudoexfoliative material in patients with oc ular pseudoexfoliation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an association exists between ocular pseudoexfoliation and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or all-cause mortality. METHODS: This retrospective study included 472 residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, who were diagnosed with pseudoexfoliation syndrome or pseudoexf oliative glaucoma at Mayo Clinic from 1976 through 1995. Of these 472 cases , 151 subsequently died from 1976 through 1997. Cause of death for these pa tients, as determined by the National Center for Health Statistics was comp ared with the entire Rochester, Minnesota, population using Kaplan-Meier an alysis. RESULTS: Of the 472 patients with ocular pseudoexfoliation, 358 (76%) were female and 114 (24%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 74 years, wit h a SD of 10 years and a range from 39 to 106 years. Cardiovascular disease resulted in 40 deaths, with a 15-year cumulative probability of cardiovasc ular mortality of 22%, compared with an expected 20% (no significant differ ence with P = .19). Cerebrovascular disease resulted in 26 deaths with a 15 -year cumulative probability of cerebrovascular mortality of 12%, compared with an expected 10% (no significant difference with P = .38). Finally, the 15-year observed all-cause cumulative mortality was 53% versus an expected rate of 59% (significant difference with P = .0002). CONCLUSIONS: No association was found between ocular pseudoexfoliation and cardiovascular or cerebrovascular mortality. All-cause mortality was signif icantly less in patients with ocular pseudoexfoliation. (Am J Ophthalmol 20 00;129:83-86. (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.)