Association between Blepharoptosis and Pterygium in Korea: A Population-Based Study during 2010-2012

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To investigate possible correlations between blepharoptosis and pterygium in a nationally representative sample of the Korean population.

Methods: This population-based, cross-sectional study was comprised of 3,685 males and 4,792 females (≥ 19 years of age) participating in the fifth annual Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2010 to 2012. The enrolled subjects underwent interviews, clinical examinations, and laboratory tests. Statistical tests were used to compare the prevalence of blepharoptosis, according to pterygium subtypes or pterygium existence. Multiple logistic regression analyses were also used to find the associations of blepharoptosis with pterygium.

Results: Pterygium was present in 10.3% of males and 9.8% of females. The odds ratios (ORs) of pterygium in Korean males significantly decreased as the severity of blepharoptosis increased (p for trend = 0.0252). Using three models in multivariate analyses, males with blepharoptosis had an OR (95% confidence interval, (CI)) of 0.643 (0.435 ~ 0.951) for pterygium compared with males with no blepharoptosis, after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, serum vitamin D levels, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and stress intolerance. There was no significant association between blepharoptosis and females.

Conclusions: The association between blepharoptosis and pterygium in the Korean population showed a gender difference. Epidemiologic evidence only showed a negative correlation between blepharoptosis and pterygium in Korean males. Further studies are needed, therefore, to examine the sex difference in the pathogenesis of pterygium.

Keywords:

• Pterygium
• blepharoptosis
• population-based
• gender difference
• epidemiology

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author contributions

JP, KH designed and analyzed the study and drafted all versions of the manuscript. KN advised on design, analysis, and reviewed successive drafts of the manuscript. HK, SY, and WC designed study and reviewed successive drafts of the manuscript. KH designed some of the study materials, contributed to analysis and measured big data analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This researh was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by Ministry of Education (2016R1D1A1B03930886).