The Prevalence of Vitreoretinal Diseases in a Screened Korean Population 50 Years and Older

Dong Ju Youm; Hyun-Sub Oh; Hyeong Gon Yu; Su Jeong Song

doi:10.3341/jkos.2009.50.11.1645

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Youm, Oh, Yu, and Song: The Prevalence of Vitreoretinal Diseases in a Screened Korean Population 50 Years and Older

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2009;50(11):1645-1651.

Published online: 31 August 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2009.50.11.1645

The Prevalence of Vitreoretinal Diseases in a Screened Korean Population 50 Years and Older

Dong Ju Youm, MD¹, Hyun-Sub Oh, MD¹, Hyeong Gon Yu, MD, PhD², Su Jeong Song, MD, PhD¹

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul, Korea

²Depratment of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Address reprint requests to Su Jeong Song, MD, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of medicine #108 Pyeong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-746, Korea Tel: 82-2-2001-2250, Fax: 82-2-2001-2262, E-mail: eye-su@hanmail.net

Received 27 March 2009 Accepted 4 August 2009

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To describe the prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases in the Korean population 50 years or older at a health screening center.

Methods

The participants of this study included 11,180 adults 50 years of age and older who visited the Health Promotion Center of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital from January to December 2006. Digital images of non-mydriatic fundus photographs were examined. We calculated the sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases using the direct standardized method based on the number of resident registrations.

Results

The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases in Korean adults 50 years of age and older was 9.9%. The prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases significantly increased with age (P=0.000). There was no significant gender difference in the prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases (p=0.553). Age-related macular degeneration was the most common vitreoretinal disease, with an age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of 5.2%. Epiretinal membrane, retinal vein occlusion, and diabetic retinopathy were common vitreoretinal diseases in that order, and the age- and sex-adjusted prevalences were 1.5%, 1.1%, and 0.9%, respectively.

Conclusions

The prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases in a screened Korean population 50 years and older was 9.9%. Vitreoretinal diseases are a major ophthalmic problem in Korea. As the Korean population continues to age and the prevalence of diabetes increases, further investigations about the epidemiology and prevention of vitreoretinal diseases are needed.

Keywords: Age-related macular degeneration, Diabetic retinopathy, Prevalence, Retinal vein occlusion, Vitreoretinal diseases

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Table 1.

Age and sex distribution of vitreoretinal disease in the study population

	Participants, No.	Eyes, No.	Prevalence, %(95% CI^*)	Relative prevlaence
Age, y
50∼59	7627	321	4.2 (3.7∼4.7)	1.0
60∼69	3016	338	11.2 (10.1∼12.3)	2.7
70∼	537	87	16.2 (13.1∼19.3)	3.9
Total	11,180	746	6.7 (6.2∼7.2)
Sex
M	6276	411	6.5 (5.9∼7.1)	1.0
F	4904	335	6.8 (6.1∼7.5)	1.0
Total	11,180	746	6.7 (6.2∼7.2)

^*CI=confidence interval.

Table 2.

Age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of vitreoretinal diseases in the study population

Disease	Eyes, No.	Age- and sex-adjusted prevalence, %
AMD^*	335	5.2
Early AMD	314	4.8
Late AMD	21	0.4
Exudative AMD	11	0.2
ERM^†	115	1.5
Retinal vein occlusion	87	1.1
DR^‡	86	0.9
Asteroid hyalosis	35	0.4
Pathologic myopia	29	0.4
Retinal hemorrhage	19	0.2
Retinal degeneration	23	0.1
Others	17	0.2

^*AMD=age-related macular degeneration

^†ERM=epiretinal membrane

^‡DR=diabetic retinopathy.

Table 3.

Prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the study population by age and sex

	AMD^*			Early AMD			Late AMD
	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence
Age, y
50∼59	142	1.9	1.0	137	1.8	1.0	5	0.1	1.0
60∼69	151	5.0	2.6	140	4.6	2.6	11	0.4	4.0
70∼	42	7.8	4.1	37	6.9	3.8	5	0.9	9.0
Total	335	3.0		314			21	0.2
Sex
M	191	3.0	1.0	178	2.8	1.0	13	0.2	1.0
F	144	2.9	1.0	136	2.8	1.0	8	0.2	1.0
Total	335	3.0		314	2.8		21	0.2

^*AMD=age-related macular degeneration.

Table 4.

Prevalence of epiretinal membrane (ERM), retinal vein occlusion, and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in the study population by age and sex

	ERM^*			Retinal vein occlusion			DR^†
	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence	Eyes	Prevalence, %	Relative prevalence
Age, y
50∼59	49	0.6	1.0	35	0.5	1.0	35	0.5	1.0
60∼69	52	1.7	2.8	41	1.4.	2.8	41	1.4	2.8
70∼	14	2.6	4.3	11	2.0	4.0	10	1.9	3.8
Total	115	1.0		87	0.8		86	0.8
Sex
M	46	0.7	1.0	50	0.8	1.0	55	0.9	1.0
F	69	1.4	2.0	37	0.8	1.0	31	0.6	0.7
Total	115	1.0		87	0.8		86	0.8

^*ERM=epiretinal membrane

^†DR=diabetic retinopathy.

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