Racial difference in the prevalence of epiretinal membrane between Caucasians and Asians

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To describe the prevalence and risk factors of epiretinal membranes (ERM) in Asian Malays and to compare this with a white population. METHODS: The Singapore Malay Eye Study examined 3280 persons (78.7% response rate) aged 40-80 years in Singapore during 2004-6. ERM were graded from retinal photographs using standardised procedures at the University of Sydney, and rates were compared with those from the Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES). RESULTS: Of the 3,280 participants, 3,265 had sufficient quality photographs for grading. The age-standardised prevalence of ERM was 7.9% (95% CI 7.1 to 8.7%) in the Singapore Census population. The prevalence of ERM was higher in Malays than ..