Clinical Profile, Demographic Distribution and Risk Factors of Parafoveal Telangiectasia: An Electronic Medical Record-Driven Big Data Analytics from a Multitier Eye Care Network

ABSTRACT

Objective

To describe the demographics and clinical profile of parafoveal telangiectasia (PFT) and compare risk factors for diabetic retinopathy (DR) among PFT and non-PFT patients.

Methods

This cross-sectional hospital-based study included 2,834,616 new patients presenting to a multi-tier ophthalmology hospital network in India between August 2010 and June 2021. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PFT in at least one eye were included as cases. The data were collected using an electronic medical record system.

Results

Overall, 2,310 (0.081%) patients were diagnosed with PFT. Most of the patients were female (62.42%) with (odds ratio [OR] = 2.08), and had bilateral (84.85%) affliction. The most common age group at presentation was during the sixth decade of life with 825 (35.71%) patients. The overall prevalence was higher in patients from an upper socio economic status (0.242%) presenting from the metropolitan geography (0.113%; OR = 2.37). Systemic history of diabetes mellitus (DM) with a mean duration of 122.03 ± 95.59 months was seen in 849 (36.75%) and hypertension in 609 (26.36%) patients. Of the 4,270 eyes, 2,441 (57.17%) eyes had a visual impairment of mild or no visual impairment (<20/70) followed by moderate visual impairment (>20/70–20/200) in 1022 (23.93%) eyes. The risk of sight threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) among PFT patients was higher (OR = 1.43) compared to non-PFT cohort. Choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM) was observed in 481 (11.26%) eyes.

Conclusion

PFT is more common in females and is predominantly bilateral. PFT is more common in upper socio economic status and majority of the eyes had mild or moderate visual impairment. Diabetes and Hypertension are associated risk factors in PFT.

KEYWORDS:

• Big data
• electronic medical records
• India
• odds ratio
• Parafoveal Telangiectasia (PFT)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of our Department of eyeSmart EMR & AEye team, Mr. Ranganath Vadapalli and Mr. Mohammad Pasha.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The corresponding author states that authorship credit of this manuscript was based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. All listed authors met conditions 1, 2, and 3. All persons designated as authors qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify are listed. Each author has participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Additional information

Funding

DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance, Clinical Research Centre Grant IA/CRC/19/1/610010.