Pseudoexfoliation syndrome: A comparative study of prevalence among the Gurungs of high altitude and low lands and Gurungs versus Tamangs and Sherpas

Abstract

As per recently availed data from a community survey of pseudoexfoliation syndrome (XFS(, it was found that Gurung were affected more frequently than other ethnic groups. The question that arose after this report, whether Gurungs are at higher risk of developing Pseudoexfoliation by virtue of them being Gurung or by living at higher altitude needed to be answered. Secondary whether only Gurungs or other ethnic people similar to Gurungs are also affected by disease needed to be addressed. To address all this issue, a community-based survey was thus conducted. The survey showed that this disease irrespective of where they live affects all Gurungs. Almost 8% of Gurungs were affected by XFS. This disease did not affect Sherpas and 0.3% of Tamangs did have pseudoexfoliation.