Ethnic differences in the demand incidence of retinal detachments in two districts in the West Midlands

To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RRDs) in two defined populations in the West Midlands of England.

A 5-year retrospective study of patients who underwent surgical repair of their RRD between April 1994 and March 1999. Statistical analysis was done by the Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0.

The total demand incidence of RRD was 11.3 and 6.3 per 100,000 in Wolverhampton and Walsall, respectively. The Asian subgroup had a low demand incidence of 4.6 and 2.0 per 100,000 in each area, respectively. In Wolverhampton the highest age-specific demand incidence was in the 70 to 79-year age group at 29.1 per 100,000, whereas in Walsall it was 98.6 per 100,000 in the 85+ age group. Nontraumatic phakic detachments had the highest demand incidence of 9.7 per 100,000, whereas nontraumatic pseudophakic and aphakic R/D were much lower at 1.2 and 0.3 per 100,000, respectively. There was a 1 : 1.5 female-to-male ratio, with a mean age of 57.8 years (95% CI 54.7-61.0) in females and 55.5 years (95% CI 53.1-57.9) for males. A total of 41.6% (142) of patients presented initially to the Wolverhampton Eye Infirmary Accident and Emergency Department (A&E).

This is the first UK-based study. The demand incidence in Caucasians is similar to worldwide figures. Asians have a three times lower incidence of retinal detachments. The demand incidence increases with age. Females have a higher mean age than males. Males (89.5%) were more likely to suffer from traumatic detachments. Younger patients were more likely to present to the optometrist initially. Less than half of the patients will present initially to the eye A&E.