Resumen de Estimated prevalence and clinical characteristics of keratoconus in the healthcare setting of the Hospital Costa del Sol, Spain

Yolanda Fernández Barrientos, Saturnino Gismero Moreno, Mercedes Lorenzo Soto

• PURPOSE: To estimate the prevalence of keratoconus (KC) in the setting of a hospital in Southern Spain, and to describe and analyze the characteristics of the KC population under study.

  SETTING: Hospital Costa del Sol (HCS), Marbella, Spain METHODS: Retrospective study of all computerized clinical records and corneal topographies carried out between January 2000 and January 2013 using the OCULUS® keratograph available in the HCS.

  RESULTS: Mean age was 35.5 ± 14.3 years, 57% of the KC patients were male and 91% were of Caucasian origin. The prevalence of KC during the period between 2000 and 2013 in the hospital healthcare setting of the HCS was 30 KC patients per 100 000 inhabitants (95% CI = 24-36 per 100 000 inhabitants). Patients with KC and corneal abnormalities present a 3-fold higher risk of keratoplasty (PK) than those without corneal abnormalities (95% CI for OR = 1.1-8.6, p = 0.04); KC patients with K > 52 D have a 13.5-fold higher risk of PK than KC patients with K ≤ 52 D and the same corneal abnormalities (95% CI for OR = 1.5-123, p = 0.02); for each increase of 1 diopter in corneal curvature, a 25% increase in the probability of undergoing PK was observed (OR = 1.25; 95% CI for OR = 1.1-1.4). Males with KC had a 3.4-fold higher risk of undergoing surgical treatment than women with KC (95% CI for OR = 1.15-10.14); men with KC had a 3.7- fold higher risk of undergoing PK than women with KC (95% CI for OR = 1.14-12.1).

  CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of KC in this region in the south of Spain is in line with the lowest prevalence observed in other white European populations.