Prevalence of lens opacities in Latinos: The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study☆
Presented in part at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, May, 2003; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Received 27 October 2003; accepted 28 January 2004.
Abstract
Objective
To estimate the age- and gender-specific prevalence of posterior subcapsular (PSC), nuclear, cortical, and mixed lens opacities in a population-based sample of Latinos 40 years and older.
Design
Population-based, cross-sectional study.
Participants
Six thousand three hundred fifty-seven Latinos 40 years and older from 6 census tracts in Los Angeles, California.
Methods
A population-based sample of Latinos underwent a complete eye examination, including assessment of presence and severity of lens opacification, using the slit lamp–based Lens Opacities Classification System II (LOCS II). All lens changes (including pseudophakia/aphakia); any nuclear, PSC, and cortical opacities; and nuclear-only, PSC-only, and cortical-only opacities were evaluated. Frequency distributions and chi-square test analyses were used to determine the age- and gender-specific prevalences for each opacity type.
Main outcome measures
Prevalences of cortical, nuclear, and posterior subcapsular opacities.
Results
Of the 7789 eligible subjects, 6357 completed a clinical examination (82% participation rate). Of all participants with LOCS II grading, 20% had all lens changes, 7.6% had cortical-only opacities, 3.5% had nuclear-only opacities, 0.4% had PSC-only opacities, and 5.9% had mixed-type opacities. The prevalence of all types of lens opacities increased with age (P<0.0001). Of all participants with mixed opacities, 49% had monocular visual impairment and 20% had binocular impairment. Of all 6357 participants, 3.9% had undergone cataract extraction in at least one eye.
Conclusion
Our data provide the first population-based estimates of the prevalence and severity of lens opacities in Latinos. Cortical opacities were the most common type. The high rate of visual impairment from lens opacities suggests that programs that increase access to cataract surgery for older Latinos could help to reduce the burden of visual impairment in the United States.
1Doheny Eye Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology, Keck of School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
2Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Correspondence and reprint requests to Rohit Varma, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1450 San Pablo Street, DEI 4900, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
This work was supported by the National Eye Institute and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant nos.: EY11753, EY03040), and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York. Dr Varma is a Research to Prevent Blindness Sybil B. Harrington Scholar.
The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in the article.
* See Ref. 18 for members of the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study Group.
ABSTRACT