Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To measure the association of baseline wearer–reported factors with the development of corneal infiltrates with continuous wear of lotrafilcon A lenses. Methods: Wearers registered in the Focus Night & Day post–approval evaluation completed an extensive questionnaire on proposed risk factors for the development of complications from lens wear. Responses from wearers who developed a corneal infiltrate at any time since enrollment (event) have been compared with those wearers who have not developed corneal infiltrates (control) within the first 3 months of the study. Results: Infiltrates were confirmed in 91 wearers; 5,990 other wearers passed 3 months in the study without report of infiltrates. Factors significantly associated with the events were age < 30 years, < 25 years and < 20 years (Odds ratio 1.6, p=0.029; 1.7 p=0.008, 1.8 p=0.016, respectively); report of never being married (Odds ratio 1.6 p=0.024), wiping hands instead of washing hands before lens handling (OR = 6.3, p=0.0002). Swimming while wearing lenses showed a trend for association with events (OR=1.5, p=0.08). Being a new wearer to contact lenses was found to be protective (OR .3, p=0.04). 95% confidence intervals will be shown. Conclusions: These results indicate that age under 30 years, report of casual hand washing behavior and swimming while wearing lenses may be associated with the development of corneal infiltrates with continuous wear of silicone hydrogel lenses. Counseling patients with these factors at the time of fitting about early symptoms of corneal inflammation may help prevent the development of these events.
Keywords: contact lens • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment