Arterial hypertension is a common systemic disease affecting many organs and tissues throughout the body. Because of this we undertook this study to evaluate the effect of mild to moderate arterial hypertension on the structure of the optic disc in normal eyes and in eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma.
Stereo optic disc photographs of 167 white patients with normal eyes and of 374 white patients with primary open-angle glaucoma were morphometrically examined. The glaucoma group consisted of all patients with primary open-angle glaucoma consecutively attending the hospital in the study period. The normal group and the glaucoma group were each divided into 2 subgroups of individuals with or without mild to moderate arterial hypertension (Table 1).
Mild to moderate arterial hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure measurements higher than 150 mm Hg and lower than 200 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure readings ranging between 90 mm Hg and