Analytical study on epidemiology of pterygium in a tertiary care centre

BACKGROUND: Pterygium is a common chronic ophthalmic disease in our country which amounts to a significant visual morbidity. It may be affected by many factors such as age, gender, ultraviolet radiation exposure, dry eyes and time spent outdoors. AIM F THE STUDY: To study and analyze the epidemiology of pterygium including risk factors and specific associations in tertiary care centre. METHODOLOGY: A hospital based cross sectional observational study of 104 patients with pterygium attending the outpatient department from June 2016 to May 2017 was performed. A detailed history with socio demographic characteristics and complete ocular examination was done with the help of a structured questionnaire. The characteristics of pterygium with respect to type and stage were correlated with the socio demographic and clinical data of the patients including nature of occupation, amount of sun exposure, comorbid conditions and dry eyes. RESULTS: Majority of the patients in our study were in the age group 45 to 55 years with a female predominance. The years of sun exposure and cumulative hours of sun exposure were significantly higher in the fleshy type of pterygium (p