To analyze the risk factors of Korean patients with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION).

Medical records of 48 Korean patients (24 men, 24 women) who were diagnosed as having AION were retrospectively reviewed and the risk factors of AION including age, sex, associated systemic disease, past medical history, social history, hematologic findings, 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, and optic disc of the clinically normal fellow eye, were analyzed.

The mean age of the 48 patients was 59.4 years (range, 36~80 years). There were 6 patients (12.5%) less than 45 years of age, 18 patients (37.5%) of 45 to 65 years of age, and 24 patients (50.0%) more than 65 years of age. There were 29 patients (60.4%) with associated systemic diseases such as hypertension (65.5%), diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease, migraine, and heart disease with a decreasing order. Nine patients (18.8%) with a mean age of 50.6 years were smoker. Four patients developed AION after a cataract operation. There were 17 (68.0%) out of 25 patients with an increased level of cholesterol. Four patients whose 24-hour blood pressure was monitored showed that their blood pressure in night was lower than that in the day time. A cup disc ratio less than 0.2 was observed in 28 contralateral eyes (68.3%) of 41 patients with unilateral AION.

Hypertension, high cholesterol and decreased cup-to-disc ratio were observed in more than 60% of the Korean patients with AION, thereby composed the major risk factors.