Eye Health Center

Angle Recession Glaucoma

Angle Recession Glaucoma Overview continued...

In the United States, over 1 million Americans experience eye injuries each year. Blunt eye injuries are estimated to account for over 60% of all episodes of eye trauma. Although injuries often occur to only one eye, the incidence rate of trauma to both eyes is as high as 27%.

• In 1988, a study of adults in New England yielded an annual rate of 9.75 eye injuries per 1000 people, based on a self-reported history.
  
  
• In 1990, an estimated hospitalization rate for children with eye trauma was reportedly 15.2 eye injuries per 100,000 children per year.
  
  
• Work-related injuries have been reported as 13-18% of total eye trauma cases.
  
  
• Injuries at home account for 27-31% of eye trauma cases, followed by assault (11-37%), recreation (approximately 25%), travel (approximately 5%), and miscellaneous (eg, school, unknown; <5%).

Angle recession is one of the most common complications after eye trauma. The exact incidence of angle recession in the United States has not been reported, but it has been described in 20-94% of eyes that have experienced blunt trauma. 
 

• Angle recession following traumatic hyphema (bleeding into the anterior chamber of the eye) occurs in 71-100% of cases.
  
  
• A 1987 study involving routine examination of asymptomatic (that is, no symptoms) boxers found angle recession in 19%, with 8% having angle recession in both eyes.

Worldwide, the incidence of eye trauma is similar to that found in the United States.

• A study of Australian adults older than 40 years yielded a lifetime cumulative rate of eye injury of 21.1%. Among men, those in rural areas had higher rates than those in urban areas (42.1% vs 30.5%). In contrast to US data, workplace injuries predominated at 60%, with home injuries closer to agreement with US figures at 24%.
  
  
• The Israeli Ocular Injuries Study reported in 1988 that injuries occurring at home were the most frequent type of eye trauma in Israel.
  
  
• A 1995 study of eye trauma among Nigerians reported the rate of home injuries at 26.4%. This study identified women and children at the greatest risk of sustaining eye trauma during domestic activities.
  
  
• A 1996 report described a predominance of home injuries in Scotland.

As in the United States, the exact incidence of angle recession in other countries is unclear. Most reports verify that contusional injuries (direct blows to the eye) represent most eye trauma cases, but rates of angle recession and/or traumatic glaucoma are not well documented.

• One survey published in 1994 based on the results from gonioscopic examinations (see Exams and Tests) of individuals older than 40 years in a community in South Africa reported a cumulative prevalence of angle recession of 14.6%.
  
  
• In this study, it was found that of eyes with angle recession involving all 360° of the iris, only 8% had glaucoma, and the overall prevalence of glaucoma of eyes with any degree of angle recession was 5.5%.