Demand incidence of retinal detachment in Brazil

Aim To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of retinal detachment in a defined urban population in the Southeast of Brazil. Methods A retrospective study of patients consulted at the Department of Ophthalmology, State University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, with retinal detachment between June 1, 2003 and July 31, 2004. Data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 10.0). Results There were a total population of 3 389 294 in the 42 cities of Campinas catchment area. A total of 313 patients fitted the inclusion criteria. The overall demand incidence of retinal detachment was 9.2:100 000. The number of males peaked in the 50-79 age group, whereas that of the females peaked in the 60 to 80+ age group. The ages ranged from 4 months to 84 years (mean 49.3). The female-to-male ratio was 1:2.1. Nontraumatic phakic detachments had the highest demand incidence of 7.1:100 000. The demand incidence of nontraumatic aphakic detachments was very low at 0.09:100 000. Almost one third of all patients seeking treatment presented inoperable cases of retinal detachments. Conclusions This is the first study of demand incidence of retinal detachment in Latin Americans. The age-specific demand incidence increases with age. Nontraumatic phakic detachments were the most common type of detachment. The incidence of the traumatic types of detachment was higher in males than that in females. Such data are important to plan and implement vitreoretinal services taking into account the population likely to be served.21334835