Racial difference in the incidence of retinal detachment in Singapore.

To determine the incidence of retinal detachment (RD) operations in a multiracial Southeast Asian population.Population-based incidence study using a universal medical savings database in Singapore.Information on all RD operations performed for rhegmatogenous RD (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 361.0) between 1993 and 1996 was retrieved and analyzed from a population-wide, government-administered medical savings database. Exudative, tractional, and unoperated-on rhegmatogenous RD are excluded. The 1990 Singapore population census was used to allow an estimation of age-, sex-, and race-specific annual incidence of RD.Between 1993 and 1996, 1126 RD operations were performed on Singapore residents. The average annual incidence of RD operations was 10.5 per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.2-10.9). The annual incidence was highest for Chinese (age-adjusted incidence, 11.6 per 100,000), followed by Malays (7.0 per 100,000), and lowest for Indians (3.9 per 100,000). The age-adjusted relative risk of RD operation for Chinese compared with Indians was 3.0 (95% CI, 2.9-3.1). Males were twice as likely as females to require RD surgery (age-adjusted relative risk, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.7-2.4). Chinese men 40 years and older had a 30.9 times higher risk (95% CI, 9.9-96.1) than Indian females younger than 40 years.The incidence of RD is strongly associated with male sex and ethnic origin.