Abstract
Purpose: :
Corneal ectasia is a term that describes the thinning of the cornea and encompasses the following disorders: keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration and keratoglobus. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the characteristics of our patients with corneal ectasia, specifically the two most common, keratoconus and pellucid marginal degeneration.
Methods: :
We reviewed the charts of patients seen at the Montefiore Medical Center Ophthalmology clinic, both private and resident clinic patients. The patients were chosen based on billing records from 2005-2007 with the diagnosis code of keratoconus or pellucid marginal degeneration. Eight patients were excluded based on missing records. Race was determined by the patient’s self-classification.
Results: :
Our patient population included 60 people, 58% female (35) and 42% male (25). This proportion is similar to that found for the Bronx population in the United States 2000 Census: 53.5% females and 46.5% males. Chi square analysis of the gender percentages revealed the difference was not significant (chi square 0.563, degree of freedom 1, probability 0.453). The race distribution found in our review was 23.33% Hispanic or Latino, 45% Black, 16.67% White, and 15% Other. The Census data revealed the Bronx population is 48.40% Hispanic or Latino, 38.30% Black, 33.10% White, 29.20% Other, 3.60% Asian, 1.50% American Indian/Alaskan and 0.30% Native Hawaiian. Again, chi square analysis revealed the differences in percentages in our study to be insignificant compared to the census results (chi square 33.4, degrees of freedom 3, probability 0.000). Other characteristics of our patients include that 45% (27) had penetrating keratoplasty (PK) in at least one eye, 50% (30) wore glasses, 38.33% (23) used rigid gas permeable lenses (RGP) and 11.67% used soft contact lenses (SCL).
Conclusions: :
Corneal ectasia in our study population reflected the composition of the Bronx in terms of gender and race. Almost half of the patients had PK done in at least one eye and they used a variety of vision correction methods.