Abstract
Purpose :
Asteroid Hyalosis (AH) is a generally benign ophthalmological condition that may lead to vision degrading myodesopsias (VDM). Diverse systemic and local disorders have been linked to its development. We performed a retrospective, observational clinical study in Mexican patients with AH to describe their demographics and determine associations.
Methods :
A search was performed in our digital clinical database for patients with AH diagnosis from 2018 to 2021, only those with complete data were included in the study. Clinical charts were reviewed, medical history and ophthalmological findings were recorded. Chi square test was used for statistical analysis.
Results :
A sample of 51 eyes of 31 patients was obtained. Laterality was reviewed finding 24 (47%) right eyes (OD) and 27 (52%) left eyes (OS), no statistically significant association was found between AH and either side. AH was present bilaterally in 20 subjects (64%) and unilaterally in 11 (36%), analysis highlighted a significant link between bilaterality and AH (p 0.000022). At the time of AH diagnosis, most eyes were phakic (74%). Glaucoma was present in a minority of our sample, 44 (86%) healthy eyes vs 7 (14%) glaucoma-diagnosed eyes. Mean BCVA was – 0.22 LogMAR (range -1.3 to 0) while mean spherical equivalent was -0.08 (range -14 to 3.5). Mean patient age was 68.03 years (range 50-83). In our sample, 11 (35%) subjects were male and 20 (65%) were female, this higher prevalence in women was statistically correlated (p 0.00002). Systemic risk factors were analyzed finding that 13 (41%) patients had Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (DM2) and 15 (48%) had systemic arterial hypertension (SAH). No significant association was found between these factors and AH. 4 (12%) subjects were tobacco smokers and 27 (88%) were non-smokers, analysis showed a statistical link between smoke-free patients and AH (p 0.00001).
Conclusions :
AH was predominantly bilateral in our Latin American subjects’ sample, contrasting with former reports in other populations. Increased age has been previously linked with AH, our sample was comprised by no patient younger than 50 years old. Female subjects may be at a higher risk for AH representing a majority percentage in our study. We found no correlation between systemic disease such as DM2 and the development of AH. Further and larger, comparative-population research is needed to elucidate universal and demographic-specific risk factors for this condition.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.