Original articleAnterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy in Patients Younger than 50 Years
Section snippets
Methods
Medical records of all patients with AION seen in the Neuro-Ophthalmology Unit at Emory University between 1989 and 2006 were reviewed. Diagnosis of AION was made by two experienced neuro-ophthalmologists (N.J.N. and V.B.) according to the following criteria: 1) a history of sudden or rapidly progressive visual loss secondary to an optic neuropathy; 2) documentation of optic disk edema at the time of visual loss; 3) no evidence of another neurologic or ocular disorder that may be responsible
Demographics
Among the 727 consecutive patients with AION seen in our unit between 1989 and 2006, 169 patients (23%) were younger than 50 years and were included in our study (Table 1). Ninety-nine patients (59%) had unilateral involvement and 70 patients (41%) had bilateral involvement; therefore, analyses were conducted on 239 eyes. There were 98 men (58%) and 71 women (42%), aged 13 to 49 years (median, 43 years; Figure 1). Women had their first onset of AION at a significantly younger age than men
Discussion
AION is the most frequent acute optic neuropathy in patients older than 50 years. Although AION is less common in younger patients, it is by no means rare. Several large series have reported that 10.5% to 12.5% of AION patients are younger than 45 years (Table 1).11, 17, 18, 20 Our study confirmed that AION in the young is not uncommon and represents 23% of AION patients younger than 50 years and 15% of AION patients younger than 45 years in a tertiary neuro-ophthalmic service. Ninety-three
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