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Epiretinal membranes (ERM) are frequent retinal conditions affecting older people. Few studies have described the prevalence of ERM in Asian ethnic groups. 1 2 It has been suggested that Asian persons have a lower prevalence of ERM compared with that in Caucasians. 3 The age-standardised ERM prevalence was lower in a study from Japan (2.8%) than in studies from Western countries (5.1 to 9.1%). 3 The Beijing Eye study also reported a low prevalence of ERM in ethnic Chinese (2.2%). 2 However, comparisons of these studies are limited by differences in the assessment of ERM. In the Funagata Study, ERM was defined from photographs graded at the same centre as the Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES), 4 and the prevalence of ERM among Japanese was similar to Caucasians in the BMES 5 and Beaver Dam Eye Study (BDES) 6 population.
Eyes with ocular diseases such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy or retinal detachment develop ERM. 7 Most cases are "idiopathic" or primary ERM without any apparent ocular pathology than posterior vitreous detachment. Risk factors for primary ERM are not clearly understood; age has been the only consistent risk factor for ERM in different studies 1 - 3 5 6 8 ( table 1 ).
Risk characteristics | Odds ratio (95% CI) |
Beaver Dam Eye Study (n = 4926, USA, 1988-90) 6 |
|
Nuclear sclerotic cataract | 0.58 (0.43 to 0.77) |
Cortical cataract | 0.65 (0.49 to 0.86) |
Any ARM | 0.69 (0.53 to 0.90) |
Early ARM | 0.76 (0.58 to 1.00) |
Arterio-venous nicking | 1.80 (1.00 to 3.25) |
Blue Mountains Eye Study (n = 3654, Australia, 1992-4) 5 |
|
Early ARM | 0.30 (0.09 to 0.94) |
Refractive error (dioptres) | 1.13 (1.02 to 1.24) |
LogMAR visual acuity | 0.95 (0.93 to 0.98) |
Plasma glucose (mmol/l) | 1.20 (1.07 to 1.34) |
Diabetes (history) | 2.68 (1.05 to 6.86) |
Diabetes (history or blood test) | 3.21 (1.43 to 7.23) |
Visual Impairment Project (n = 3271, Australia, 1992-7) 3 |
|
Smoking | 0.6 (0.5 to 0.9) |
Decrease in vision (<6/6) | 1.6 (1.2 to 2.2) |
Hisayama Study (n = 1775, Japan, 1998) 1 |
|
Serum cholesterol (per 1 mmol/l) | 1.29 (1.00 to 1.68) |
Beijing Eye Study (n = 4439, China, 2001) 2 |
|
Hyperopic refractive error | (1.01 to 1.18)* |
Visual-field loss | (1.03 to 1.07)* |
Higher level of education | (1.29 to 1.74)* |
Funagata Study (n = 1543, Japan,... |