Comparison of lesions predisposing to rhegmatogenous retinal detachment by race of subjects.

Because rhegmatogenous retinal detachments are thought to be much less common in blacks than in whites, we compared the incidence of various lesions known to cause or predispose to this condition (synchysis senilis, posterior vitreous detachment, breaks, tears, and holes of the peripheral fundus, and lattice degeneration of the retina) in a series of postmortem eyes on the basis of race. Our statistical analysis also included trauma, myopia, and chorioretinitis. The series included 322 black subjects and 2,012 white subjects. The subjects ranged in age from 20 to 93 years at the time of death. Although the initial data showed a racial difference in the incidence of synchysis senilis of grade 3 (50% destruction) or higher and posterior vitreous detachment (P = .033 and P = .021, respectively), we found no difference when the data were age-corrected.