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Population study: Contact lens wear may increase incidence of ulcerative keratitis
Arch Ophthalmol. 2010;128(8):1022-1028.
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A high incidence of ulcerative keratitis in Northern California may be attributed to increasing contact lens wear among a large study population, according to a study.
"The incidence of ulcerative keratitis in this population is higher than previously reported," the study authors said. "This may be owing to the increasing prevalence of contact lens wear."
The retrospective cohort study involved a review of medical records coded for diagnoses of corneal ulcers from a 12-month period. Investigators used a dynamic population model to calculate incidence rates and performed multivariate relative risk regression to examine possible risk factors for ulcerative keratitis.
Study results showed that in the target population of about 1.093 million patients, 302 patients were identified with ulcerative keratitis.
Data showed an incidence of 27.6 cases of ulcerative keratitis per 100,000 person-years. Among contact lens wearers, the incidence of corneal ulceration was 130.4 cases per 100,000 person-years. Non-contact lens wearers had an incidence of 14 cases per 100,000 person-years, the authors said.
Patients testing positive for HIV had an incidence of 238.1 cases per 100,000 person-years. Patients testing negative for HIV had an incidence of 27.1 cases per 100,000 person-years.
Of 2,944 patients identified with HIV, seven patients developed ulcerative keratitis; five of those seven patients wore contact lenses, the authors reported.