Central corneal thickness (CCT), which varies between ethnic groups, affects glaucoma predisposition; thinner CCT is a risk factor for open-angle glaucoma. In an attempt to identify the relationship between CCT and different glaucoma parameters in different types of glaucoma in Arabic patients, a team of researchers from Jordan found that Arabic primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) patients have the thinnest CCT compared with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PXFG) patients. 

The researchers classified study participants into four main groups: POAG patients (54 eyes), PACG patients (34 eyes), PXFG patients (31 eyes) and healthy patients (57 eyes). They then obtained demographics, intraocular pressures, cup-to-disc ratios (CDR), visual field mean deviations (VFMD) and pattern standard deviations, CCTs and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thicknesses.

The team discovered that PACG eyes have the thinnest CCT, at 506.91μm, compared with POAG eyes (538.31μm), PXFG eyes (544.45μm) and healthy eyes (549.63μm). They note that CCT significantly correlated with CDR, VFMD and RNFL thickness.

The study concludes that these findings “emphasize the importance of taking ethnicity into account upon glaucoma management.”