Incidence and clinical characteristics of paediatric keratitis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS:

To report the incidence and clinical characteristics of paediatric keratitis diagnosed over a 10-year period in a well-defined population.

DESIGN:

Retrospective, population-based study.

METHODS:

Setting: multicentre.

POPULATION:

patients (<19 years) diagnosed with keratitis as residents of Olmsted County from 1 January 2000, through 31 December 2009.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

calculated annual age-specific and gender-specific incidence rates, demographic information and initial and final visual acuity.

RESULTS:

A total of 294 diagnoses of keratitis occurred in 285 children during the 10-year period, yielding an incidence of 78.0 per 100 000 younger than 19 years (95% CI 69.0 to 87.1) or approximately 1 in 1282 children. The incidence increased throughout the 10-year study period (p<0.001). The mean age at diagnosis was 15.3 years (range, 0.2-18.9) and 172 (60.4%) were women. The observed forms included keratitis due to contact lens wear in 134 (45.6%), infectious keratitis in 72 (24.5%), keratitis not otherwise specified in 65 (22.1%) and keratitis sicca in 23 (7.8%). The visual acuity was reduced to ≤20/40 in 61 (21.4) of the 285 patients at the initial examination and in 24 (8.4%) at the final examination. Children with infectious keratitis had the poorest presenting vision and the best final vision, whereas the reverse was true for those with keratitis sicca.

CONCLUSIONS:

Keratitis, regardless of aetiology, was observed in approximately 1 in 1300 children by 19 years of age in this population-based cohort. Nearly half were related to contact lens wear and a decrease in vision to ≤ 20/40 occurred in 1 in 12 patients.

• Authors: Laurel B Tanke, Eric J Kim, Samantha D Butterfield, Grayson B Ashby, Erick D Bothun, David O Hodge, Brian G Mohney
• Journal: The British journal of ophthalmology (Br J Ophthalmol) Vol. 107 Issue 9 Pg. 1253-1257 (09 2023) ISSN: 1468-2079 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 35568385 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)
• Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Topics

• Humans
• Child
• Female
• Male
• Incidence
• Retrospective Studies
• Keratitis (diagnosis, epidemiology)
• Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca
• Risk Factors