The Prevalence and Demographic Characteristics of Anterior Polar Cataract in a Hospital-Based Study in Korea.
- Author:
Hyojin KIM
1
;
Choun Ki JOO
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords: Anterior polar cataract; Cataract; Demographic characteristic; Epidemiology; Prevalence
- MeSH: Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cataract/classification/*epidemiology; Female; Hospitals, General/*statistics & numerical data; Humans; Korea/epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Ophthalmology/statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Sex Distribution
- From:Korean Journal of Ophthalmology 2008;22(2):77-80
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: PURPOSE: Anterior Polar Cataract (APC) develops by a mechanism different from that of other age-related cataracts, and outside of Korea, it is an extremely rare condition. We investigated the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of APC in Koreans. METHODS: The evaluation on the prevalence of APC in comparison to the other age-related cataracts was performed on the 2,108 cataract patients who were treated at 5 different areas in Korea from August 2003 to December 2003. The demographic characteristics of APC were studied on the, 656 cataract patients who were treated from January 2004 to January 2005 at one hospital. These patients were classified according to the type of lens opacity (nuclear, cortical, posterior subcapsular, mixed and APC). RESULTS: The prevalence of patients with APC among all the cataract patients was 6.02% during the 5 months in this hospital-based study. Eighty-seven per cent of patients with APC were male. In contrast, the proportion of female was greater than 50% in the other cataracts. The mean age of APC patients was 52.7 years. Among the APC patients, 38.9% were under 50 years of age, 42.6% in their 50s, 14.8% in their 60s, and 3.7% were in their 70s. However, 80% of patients were over the age of 60 years in nuclear, cortical, and mixed-type cataracts. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of APC among all cataracts was high in comparision with another country. The proportion of APC was high in individuals younger than 60 years of age, and in males.
