title: Distribution and associations of intraocular pressure in indigenous Australians within central Australia: the Central Australian Ocular Health Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the distribution and associations of intraocular pressure (IOP) among the indigenous Australian population living in central Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinic-based cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  1884 individuals living in one of 30 remote communities within the statistical local area of 'Central Australia'. This equated to 36% of those aged ≥20 years and 67% of those aged ≥40 years within this district.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants aged 20 years or over were recruited as they presented to the eye clinic at each remote community. Of those recruited into the study, 1060 underwent IOP measurement using either a Perkins tonometer (Haag-Streit, Koeniz, Switzerland) or an ICare tonometer (Tiolat Oy, Helsinki, Finland) depending on the availability of equipment. Central corneal thickness (CCT) was also measured using ultrasound pachymetry.
  
  
  METHODS
  The distribution and associations of IOP from the right eye of each participant is presented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean IOP was 12.8 mmHg (SD 3.2 mmHg) and CCT was 512 µm (SD 36 µm). IOP was strongly associated with CCT (r(2) = 0.14, t = 3.87; P < 0.0001), showing an increase of 0.4 mmHg with every 10 µm increase in CCT. Furthermore, IOP was strongly associated with age, decreasing by 1.9 mmHg for every decade increase in age, but only for eyes with a CCT above the mean.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IOP of indigenous Australians is lower than any other racial group previously published. This may relate to the low CCT readings found among this population. Clinicians will need to bear this in mind when examining indigenous Australians and make appropriate allowances for the measured IOP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, South Australia. john.landers@bigpond.com
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landers
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Craig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015876:Northern Territory / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D055815:Young Adult