Comparison of the prevalence of posterior vitreous detachment in whites and Japanese.

The vitreous condition of healthy white (n = 551) and Japanese (n = 528) eyes were reviewed and compared with respect to the prevalence of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in the two groups. No white or Japanese patient 39 years of age or younger had PVD; the prevalence among those older than 39 increased with age in the fifth through the ninth decades, i.e., respectively, to 4%, 24%, 37% 59%, and 87% in the whites, and to 5%, 21%, 43%, 72%, and 82% in the Japanese. In none of these decades was there any significant difference between the prevalence of complete or partial PVD in the whites and the Japanese. This finding is significant because the vitreoretinal relationship influences the development and prognoses of the various vitreoretinal disorders.