Incidence of Glaucoma

TOTAL population studies are the only certain way of gaining reliable information on the prevalence of insidious conditions like chronic simple glaucoma. The sine qua non of a total population study is exact knowledge of the composition of the population. In the Rhondda valley the Medical Research Council has laboriously carried out a census so that the exact number of persons and their age and sex are known for this area. Over the past 15 years the M.R.C. has earned the co-operation of this population by its efforts in detecting miners' pneumoconiosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and other diseases. Such a situation was admirably suited for a total population study of the prevalence of glaucoma, and in the summer of 1963 the authors carried out such a study. To our knowledge the only previous similar study is that done by Str6mberg (1962) at Skovde in Sweden.