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

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 in Caucasians from the BMES (age-standardised prevalence: 15.8% (CI 14.2 to 17.2%) in Malays vs 6.8% (CI 5.9 to 7.6%) in Caucasians). Of the 384 persons with ERM, 124 (32.3%) had secondary ERM. Age, female gender, hyperopia and narrower retinal arteriolar diameter were associated with higher prevalence of ERM, after adjusting for age and/or gender. Conclusions: The prevalence of ERM in Asian Malays was higher than that in the Caucasians. Risk factors for ERM were older age, female gender, hyperopic refraction and narrower retinal arteriolar diameter.