Rates of hospital admissions for primary angle closure glaucoma among Chinese, Malays, and Indians in Singapore.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the rates of hospital admissions for primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) in Chinese, Malays, and Indians in Singapore


METHODS
A population-wide hospital discharge database in Singapore was used to identify all hospital admissions with a primary discharge diagnosis of PACG (International Classification of Disease-CM code: 365.2). The Singapore census was used for denominator data.


RESULTS
Between 1993 and 1997 there were 894 hospital admissions for PACG. The mean annual rate of PACG admissions was 11.1 per 100 000 (95% confidence interval (CI), 10.4, 11.8) among people aged 30 years and over. The annual rate was highest for Chinese (age and sex adjusted rate: 12.2 per 100 000), which was twice that of Malays (6.0 per 100 000) and Indians (6.3 per 100 000). Females had two times higher rates than males in all three races (age adjusted relative risk: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.7, 2.3).


CONCLUSIONS
Malay and Indian people had identical rates of hospital admissions for PACG, which were only half the rates compared with Chinese.
Wong
T Y
TY
Singapore National Eye Center, Singapore. tienyinwong@yahoo.com
Foster
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Seah
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Chew
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D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D015812:Glaucoma, Angle-Closure / Q000208:ethnology*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology