Abstract
Purpose :
To date, published data on iris cysts largely consists of single patient case reports or small case series. There is an even greater paucity of population-based literature on iris cysts among the Indian patient population. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the clinical and demographic profile of iris cysts at a large multi-tier ophthalmology network in India.
Methods :
This cross-sectional hospital-based study includes 3,947,881 new patients presenting between August 2010-2023 to tertiary and secondary centers of a multi-tier ophthalmology network in India. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of iris cyst in at least one eye were included as cases. Data on patient demographics, clinical presentation, ocular diagnoses, and treatment were collected using the eyeSmart electronic medical record system. Chi-square tests for univariate analyses and descriptive statistics were performed using Stata (α=0.05).
Results :
Of the 3,947,881 new patients who presented during the study period, 662 patients were diagnosed with iris cysts in at least one eye (0.02%). The majority of patients had unilateral (91.09%) affliction, and the most common age group at presentation was during the first decade of life (20.85%). The overall prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) higher in patients who were male (58.31%) from a lower socio-economic status (0.02%) from an urban geography (0.02%) and in retired individuals (0.03%). The most common etiology was primary (66.71%), and the majority of the eyes had mild or no visual impairment (<20/70) at presentation (42.58%). The most common ocular co-morbidity documented was cataract (21.91%) followed by glaucoma (9.85%). Iris cyst excision was performed in 95 (13.18%) eyes and cyst aspiration/sclerotherapy was performed in 14 (1.94%) eyes.
Conclusions :
This study is the first to describe the epidemiological distribution of iris cyst in a large cohort of patients in India. Our findings show that iris cysts more commonly affect males presenting during the first decade of life from a lower socio-economic status. The majority of eyes had mild or no visual impairment at presentation, and a tenth of the eyes required a surgical intervention. This study offers important insight into the clinical and demographic characteristics of iris cysts and underscores the need for further research to refine our understanding of the ocular condition, historically understudied on a population-level.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.