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Clinical profile of pterygium in patients seeking eye care in India: electronic medical records-driven big data analytics report III

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Abstract

Objective

To describe the clinical profile of pterygium in patients presenting to a multi-tier ophthalmology hospital network in India.

Methods

This cross-sectional hospital-based study included 1,610,843 new patients presenting between 2010 and 2019. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of pterygium in at least one eye were included as cases. The data were collected using an electronic medical record system. Multiple logistic regression analysis with odds ratios (OR) was performed to identify the associated risk factors.

Results

Overall, 168,807 (10.5%) new patients were diagnosed with pterygium, of which 43,692 (26%) patients complained about the lesion. The prevalence rates were 0.7% in children and 12.6% in adults. Majority of patients were female (54.5%) and had unilateral (57%) affliction. Among the 241,631 affected eyes, the pterygia were primary in 99.6%, nasally located in 94%, and were grade I–II in 84.8%. Four in 5 eyes did not have any cylindrical refractive error, and 44% had coexistent cataract. Pterygium surgery was indicated in 10.3% eyes. Female sex (OR 1.37), increasing age (OR 19.5), rural residence (OR 1.21), agriculture work (OR 2.19), manual labor (OR 2.05), low socioeconomic status (OR 2.14) and geographical location closer to the equator (OR 3.4) were identified as the risk factors for developing pterygium.

Conclusion

About one-tenth of individuals seeking eye care in India have pterygium in at least one eye. It rarely impacts vision, is commonly unilateral and nasal and usually does not require surgery. It is associated with increasing age, females, outdoor work, low income and geographical location closer to the equator.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of our Department of eyeSmart EMR & AEye team specially Mr. Ranganath Vadapalli and Mr. Mohammad Pasha.

Funding

This study was funded by Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, Hyderabad, India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of eyeSmart EMR and AEye, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Anthony Vipin Das & Gumpili Sai Prashanthi

  2. School of Medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Sahitya Podila

  3. The Cornea Institute, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Sayan Basu

  4. Center for Ocular Regeneration (CORE), L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Sayan Basu

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  1. Anthony Vipin Das
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  4. Sayan Basu
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Contributions

The corresponding author states that authorship credit of this manuscript was based on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published. All listed authors met conditions 1, 2 and 3. All persons designated as authors qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify are listed. Each author has participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

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Correspondence to Sayan Basu.

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Das, A.V., Podila, S., Prashanthi, G.S. et al. Clinical profile of pterygium in patients seeking eye care in India: electronic medical records-driven big data analytics report III. Int Ophthalmol 40, 1553–1563 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-020-01326-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-020-01326-3

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