Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the incidence and risk factors of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) in those using oral corticosteroids in Taiwan.
Methods:
From the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, all adults who were repetitively prescribed oral corticosteroids between 2000 and 2008 were included as the study cohort. Of those, cases were identified as the subjects who were newly diagnosed with CSCR. Subjects matched for age, gender and the time of enrollment were randomly selected as the controls. Using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic codes, CSCR cases were identified and the incidence of CSCR calculated. Use of corticosteroids was compared between the cases and controls. Multivariate regressions were used to analyze the potential risk factors for CSCR.
Results:
Among 142,035 oral corticosteroids users, 320 cases of CSCR were identified and 1,554 matched controls were randomly selected. The incidence rate of CSCR was 44.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 39.5-49.3) cases per 100 000 person-years. Multivariate Poisson regression showed that male patients and those aged 35 to 44 years had significantly higher incidence rates of CSCR. There were no differences in either median dosage or mean duration of systemic corticosteroid treatment between the cases and controls. After adjusting for other confounders, current use of oral corticosteroids was found to be significantly associated with the risk of CSCR (odds ratio = 2.42; 95% CI, 1.49-3.90). CSCR patients with higher average daily dosages were more likely to have shorter latency period (p for lineal trend <0.001).
Conclusions:
The present study is the firstly to report an estimate of the incidence of CSCR among adults prescribed oral corticosteroids in Taiwan. Male gender, middle age, and current use of oral corticosteroids were found to be the risk factors for CSCR.
Keywords: 463 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence •
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