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Jeong, Lee, Cho, Yoo, Han, Yoo, Cho, Lee, Kim, and Kim: Risk Factors for Retinal Breaks in Patients with Symptom of Floaters
Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2014;55(8):1162-1166.

Published online: 31 August 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2014.55.8.1162

Risk Factors for Retinal Breaks in Patients with Symptom of Floaters

Seong Hun Jeong, MD, Dong Won Lee, MD, Han Joo Cho, MD, Young Joo Yoo, MD, Jung I1 Han, MD, Su Jin Yoo, MD, Sung Won Cho, MD, Tae Gon Lee, MD, Chul Gu Kim, MD, Jong Woo Kim, MD

Myung-Gok Eye Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Kim's Eye Hospital, Konyang University, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Address reprint requests to Dong Won Lee, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Konyang University Kim's Eye Hospital, #136 Yeongsin-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 150-034, Korea, Tel: 82-2-2671-7665, Fax: 82-2-2671-6359 E-mail: mediceye@kimeye.com

Received 11 January 2014       Revised 17 February 2014       Accepted 24 June 2014

Copyright © The 2014 Korean Ophthalmological Society

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 identify the risk factors of retinal breaks in patients with symptoms of floaters and to determine the associations between those risk factors and retinal breaks.

Methods

A retrospective chart review of patients who visited with the symptom of vitreous floaters between July 2012 and October 2012 was performed. Patient information, such as age, sex, symptoms (e.g., multiple floaters and flashing), duration of symptoms, refractive error, and complete eye examination were recorded. The patients were divided into 2 groups: the control group had symptoms of floaters with no retinal breaks and the retinal breaks group had symptoms of floaters with retinal breaks. The chi-square test and univariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis.

Results

A total of 1744 eyes were examined in this study, including 1706 eyes in the control group and 38 eyes in the retinal breaks group. Univariate analysis revealed that patients with high myopia and multiple floaters showed increased risk of retinal breaks by 3.4 and 4.4 times, respectively, when compared to patients with a single floater alone. Lattice degeneration and vitreous or retinal hemorrhage increased the risk of retinal breaks by 10.8 and 37.5 times when compared to eyes that did not have lattice degeneration or vitreous or retinal hemorrhage. During the follow-up period after laser photocoagulation, a new retinal tear was found in 2 patients (2/38, 5.3%).

Conclusions

Vitreous or retinal hemorrhage, lattice degeneration, multiple floaters, and high myopia are risk factors of retinal breaks in patients with the symptom of floaters. Therefore, it is important for ophthalmologists to be aware of these risk factors and the patients at risk should be encouraged to attend follow-up examinations.

Keywords: Flashing, Lattice degeneration, Retinal tear, Vitreous floater, Vitreous hemorrhage

References

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Table 1.
Patients demographic data
Characteristic Group (%)
 Total (%)
Control (n = 1706) Retinal break (n = 38)
Age (years) 56.0 ± 11.9 53.5 ± 9.6 62.6 ± 6.1
Sex (n)
 Male 592 (34.7) 15 (39.4) 607 (34.8)
 Female 1114 (65.2) 23 (60.5) 1137 (65.2)
Laterality
 OD 872 (51.1) 21 (55.3) 893 (51.2)
 OS 834 (48.9) 17 (44.7) 851 (48.8)
Duration of symptom
  < 1 month 1218 (71.4) 31 (81.6) 1249 (71.6)
  ≥1 month 488 (28.6) 7 (18.4) 495 (28.4)

Values are presented as mean ± SD unless otherwise indicated.

Table 2.
Variables of the control group and the retinal break group
Variables Number of eyes (%)
 Total (%)
Control group Retinal break group
Flashing 127 (7.4) 4 (10.5) 131 (7.5)
Multiple floaters 112 (6.6) 9 (23.7) 121 (6.9)
Myopia (≥6 diopters) 104 (6.1) 7 (18.4) 111 (6.4)
Lattice degeneration 29 (1.7) 6 (15.8) 35 (2.0)
Vitreous or retinal hemorrhage 14 (0.8) 9 (23.7) 23 (1.3)
Table 3.
Univariate analysis of the control group and the retinal break group
Variables p-value Odds ratio 95% CI
Flashing 0.476 1.463 0.511-4.187
Multiple floaters <0.001* 4.417 2.041-9.559
Myopia (≥6 diopters) 0.002* 3.478 1.496-8.088
Lattice degeneration <0.001* 10.843 4.210-27.926
Vitreous or retinal hemorrhage <0.001* 37.50 15.033-93.582

CI = confidence interval.

* Statistical significance was determined using the Chi-square test.

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