Purpose: Studying the correlation between high intraocular pressure and glaucoma in black African patients.

Patients and method: This study was retrospective and was based on 235 patients, i.e. 470 eyes examined from April 1993 to december 1998 for elevated eye pressure, at the Sanou Souro hospital of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. For each subject, we noted visual acuity, age, sex, ocular tonus, the result of optical disc examination with the three-mirror glass, and the visual field examined with Goldmann perimetry. We excluded infants, young children, glaucoma with normal pressure, and patients with incomplete files.

Results: The patients were from 14 to 80 years old, with 18.3% 40 years-old or less. Male subjects predominated with a sex ratio of 2.26. Visual acuity was lost in 191 eyes (40.6%) and optic disk excavation was total in 214 eyes (45.5%). The Goldmann perimetry visual field test reveled defects in 390 eyes (83%). Ocular tension, optic disk excavation of the glaucomatous type, and visual field defects were associated in 70.4% of the cases.

Conclusion: This study shows that in 70.4% of the cases, there was a correlation between high intraocular pressure and glaucoma. This glaucoma is acute and appears in young subjects. Efforts will be made to alert our population and detect glaucoma precociously.