Abstract
Purpose :
A previous study found that Hispanic and Asian children develop chalazia at a higher rate than other racial/ethnic groups. This retrospective chart review evaluated age, gender, and racial/ethnic differences in prevalence and treatment of chalazia among pediatric patients.
Methods :
Age, gender, race/ethnicity-based chalazia diagnosis counts (by ICD9 and ICD10 codes) and management profiles (by CPT codes or medication records) were quantified in children 2-18 years old (y/o) using the record counter in the Synthetic Derivative, our deidentified institutional health record database. Medications in the search strategy were Fluorometholone, Tobradex, Maxitrol, Blephamide, and Erythromycin. CPT 678-00,-01,-05,-08,-40, and ICD-9 08.21 codes were used to stratify by treatment. We used Fisher’s exact tests and Chi-square analyses to measure differences in prevalence and treatment modalities.
Results :
Girls had 1.17 times the odds of chalazia compared to boys (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-1.27, p<0.001). Hispanic children had 4.92 (CI: 4.48-5.42, p<0.0001), Asian children had 3.62 (CI: 3.00-4.37, p<0.0001) and African American children had 1.80 (CI:1.60-2.02, p<0.0001) times the odds of chalazia than Caucasian children. Of 2,296 children diagnosed with chalazion, 985 patients were managed only with prescription medications (without surgical intervention), 319 received both medicine and surgery, and 159 only received surgery. There was a significant difference in the distribution of treatment modalities based on age (Chi-square, p<0.0001). Compared to children 13-18 y/o, children between 6-12 y/o had 1.85 times the odds of receiving only medications and not surgery. Further, compared to Caucasian children, Asian children had 1.87 (CI: 1.07-3.23, p=0.02) and Hispanic children 1.34 times the odds (CI: 1.03-1.74, p=0.03) of management with medications only.
Conclusions :
We identify racial/ethnic disparities in the prevalence and treatment of chalazia in pediatric patients 2-18 y/o. Compared to Caucasian children, Hispanic children had the highest odds of having chalazia and lowest odds of obtaining only surgery, while Asian children had the highest odds of receiving only prescription drug management without any surgery. Further investigation is warranted to understand the root causes of the observed disparities in the prevalence and treatment of chalazion.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.