Abstract
Purpose :
RVO is one of most common retinal vascular disorders, leading to visual impairment and subsequent socioeconomic loss among working population. Although prevalence and risk factors of RVO are well known, until now, there is no consensus regarding optimal screening age for persons of high risk. So the purpose of this study was to predict age threshold for increased risk of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) among Koreans.
Methods :
This analysis was based on Korean National Health Insurance Database from 2008-2013. Patients who were diagnosed as new RVO from 2008 to 2013 were included. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the prognostic factors for RVO and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) for age that optimized the prediction of RVO was constructed.
Results :
Among 391,769 individuals, 2,418 (0.62%) developed RVO. The risk factors for RVO were old age, high BMI, high blood pressure, high blood glucose and high blood cholesterol level, presence of diabetic mellitus and hypertension, current or previous smoking history, high alcohol consumption. (p<0.05) The cut-off age for increased risk of RVO for male was 44 years (sensitivity 0.84, specificity 0.62) and 51 years (sensitivity 0.80, specificity 0.62) for females. The area under ROC for age cut off for male was 0.74 (0.73-0.75) and 0.76 (0.75-0.77) for females.
Conclusions :
The annual incidence of RVO for less than 40 years of age was 0.06%, which was low. But the incidence of RVO doubled after 40 years of age for both genders. Whether this age threshold could help to define high risk individuals for RVO development among Koreans needs more validation from further studies. Addition to controlling high blood pressure and blood glucose, more attention to modify the unhealthy life style factors like smoking and alcohol consumption after 40 years or older to decrease the risk of RVO should be made.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.