Epidemiology of pterygium on a tropical island in the Riau Archipelago

Abstract

Objectives To describe the epidemiology of pterygium among residents of an island in Indonesia and to examine the roles of age and gender as determinants of bilaterality and severity of the disease. Methods Voluntary eye screening on Pulau Jaloh, Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. Gender difference was tested using the v 2 test. The difference in age between subjects with and without disease was tested using unpaired Student's t-test. Odds ratio (relative risk) for gender was calculated using logistic regression model with adjustment for age. Results Of the 550 inhabitants, 477 (86.7%) responded to the eye screening. The overall prevalence rate of pterygium was 17.0%. Out of 211, 48 male (22.7%) and 33 out of 266 female subjects (12.4%) had the disorder, with the gender difference being statistically significant. Adjusted for age, the risk of disease was 3.1-fold higher among the males. In all, 71.6% of subjects with pterygium had bilateral disease. Subjects with pterygium were significantly older, their mean age being 42.9 years compared to 18.7 years among those without disease. The prevalence rates in male subjects increased from age 20 to reach a plateau of 63.6% at age 35 and remained stable thereafter. In the female subjects, the rates also increased with age, albeit at a slower rate, from age 20 to reach a plateau of 46.7% at age 55 and remained stable thereafter. Conclusions There is a high prevalence rate of pterygium among the study subjects, with the rates increasing rapidly with age. Eye (2006) 20, 908-912.

Prevalence and risk factors of pterygium and pinguecula: the Tehran Eye Study

“…These results are similar to those by other studies, and most of them confirm that there is a correlation between pterygium and age. [4][5][6][11][12][13][15][16][17] In this study, we found that a VA worse than 20/40 in the better eye is five times more likely among people with pterygium, and although this factor has been assessed in a limited number of studies, they support our findings. This can be due to a change in the convexity of the cornea and development of astigmatism.…”

“…Some reports indicate that pterygium prevalence rates are lower than 2.0% where Compared to almost all other studies, the prevalence of pinguecula is relatively low in Tehran, and the only report indicating similar results concerns a study in Australia with a prevalence of 1.2% in Melbourne. 4 In contrast to the studies in Tehran and Melbourne, higher prevalence rates have been reported in other populations; 6,7,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] even as high as 33.1 and 23% in China and Carolina, respectively (Table 4). 5,14 In this study, the prevalence of pterygium according to gender was higher in men only in the 20-to 39-year-old age group, and no significant correlation was seen between pterygium and gender in other age groups.…”

“…Some reports state pterygium is more prevalent among men in all age groups. 4,6,12,16 There are also reports indicating higher prevalence rates among women, 5,13 and yet some studies found no correlation between pterygium and gender (Table 4). 11,15,17,18 On the basis of the results of this study, the prevalence of pterygium significantly increases with age in both genders.…”

Pterygium in an aged Mongolian population: a population-based study in China

“…15 In the Blue Mountain Eye Study, the prevalence was 7.3% for participants aged 49 years or older. 21 The prevalence of pterygium among 477 residents on a tropical island in Indonesia, however, was high, at 17.0%, 22 and the black population of the Barbados Eye Study was even higher, 23.4% of 2617 participants were aged 40-84 years. 23 The highest prevalence of pterygium, to our knowledge, was in subjects aged 50 years or above in a rural area of southern China, 33.01%.…”

The biological, ecological and conservation significance of freshwater swamp forest in Singapore

“…Comprehensive studies of freshwater swamp forest fish have been carried out in only a few regions such as Thailand, central Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and the Riau Archipelago (e.g. Tan & Tan, 1994;Vidthayanon, 2002;Tan & Kottelat, 2009), and all indications point to even greater fish diversity in unexplored locations.…”