Prevalence of optic disc drusen in an adult Chinese population: the Beijing Eye Study

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of optic disc drusen and their associations with ocular and general parameters. The Beijing Eye Study included 4439 of 5324 subjects invited to participate (response rate 83.4%). All subjects were aged >= 40 years. The present investigation involved 8594 (96.8%) eyes of 4324 (97.4%) subjects from whom readable fundus photographs of at least one eye were available. The main outcome parameter was the presence of optic disc drusen defined as round, whitish bodies. Optic disc drusen were detected in nine (0.1 +/- 0.05%) eyes of eight subjects (five women). The prevalence rate was 0.2 +/- 0.07% (95% confidence interval 0.07-0.33%) per subject. Optic disc drusen were significantly associated with small optic discs (p < 0.001). They were not statistically associated with age (p = 0.90), gender (p = 0.73), intraocular pressure (p = 0.97), refractive error (p = 0.71), visual field defects (p = 0.47) or corrected visual acuity (p = 0.84). Optic disc drusen are present in about two in 1000 adult Chinese people in Northern China. The main associated factor is a small optic disc.