Increased occurrence of exfoliation in the male, Spanish American population of New Mexico.

Exfoliation syndrome was found to occur much more frequently in the male Spanish American population of New Mexico. This was based on a Veterans Administration Medical Center study in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The prevalence of exfoliation in the Spanish Americans was estimated to be from 3-6 percent and this is consistent with many other such studies performed in the United States and other countries. The Spanish American population is 5.8 times more likely to develop exfoliation than the non-Spanish American population of New Mexico. Exfoliation was found on such eye structures as the lens, iris, ciliary processes, posterior capsule, vitreous face, posterior corneal surface, and arterial chamber angle. Glaucoma capsulare was also studied and it was found that there was not a significant difference between the Spanish American and the non-Spanish American population for developing the condition. However, there was a strong association of glaucoma with the presence of exfoliation in both groups. Based on our results, patients with exfoliation are 22 times more likely to develop glaucoma than are their age-matched controls. Also, 40 percent of the exfoliation patients had glaucoma compared with only 5 percent of the age-matched controls (p less than .001). The patients with glaucoma capsulare were found to have a more medically resistant type of glaucoma, which was consistent with other reports of this condition. There are two theories we propose for the existence of exfoliation in the Spanish American population of New Mexico. The first is a geographic climatic theory that relates exfoliation to greater solar radiation levels due to a high overall altitude and sunny weather in New Mexico.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)