[What do we know about intraocular pressure in the Togolese population?].

Background: Intraocular pressure is a major ocular risk factor of chronic open angle glaucoma. This study aimed to describe characteristics of intraocular pressure in a defined black African population.

Methods: Hospital outpatients were recruited for this study, and all measures were taken with a pulse air tonometer between 8 AM and 12 AM; some participants were glaucoma patients under medical treatment. On the whole, 7,042 participants (13,831 eyes) were included in this study.

Results: The mean age of all participants was 41 +/- 18 years: 9.9% were under 16 years of age; 21.2% were between 35 and 44 years old. The average intraocular pressure was 17.05+/-5.93 mmHg; for the subgroup under 16 years of age. Girls had higher pressure than boys: 16.01 vs 16.32 mmHg in the right eye. For those over 16 years of age, pressures were higher in men, with an average of 17.45 mmHg vs 16.67 mmHg in the right eye. High intraocular pressure was found in 22.28% of the participants, with values ranging from 20 to 29 mmHg in 86.8% of cases. The relative prevalence of hypertony seems to increase with age, reaching 30% for those aged 55-64 years.

Conclusion: There is a high rate of hypertony in our findings, which seems to correlate with the increased glaucoma prevalence already described in the Togolese population. We concluded that in our setting, the prevention of glaucoma in isolated hypertonies and the management of glaucomatous cases warrant a thorough assessment of intraocular pressure at all ages.