Incidence Of Keratoconus In Patients Asking For Refractive Procedure In The Last Five Years In Beni Suef Governate In Egypt. Survey Study

To estimate the Epidemiology of Keratoconous (KC) in patients seeking refractive procedures at Beni Suif governorate in Egyptfort a span period of five year from March 2017 to March 2021, To describe and analyze the characteristics of the KC population under study.

Keratoconus is a progressive, non-inflammatory bilateral (usually asymmetrical ) ecstatic corneal disease , characterized by paraxial stromal thinning and weakening that leads to corneal surface distortion . The reported incidence and prevalence of KC varies widely depending upon the geographic location, diagnostic criteria used and the cohort of patients selected.

This study designed as a prospective survey study. All clinical records in the database from pentacam (HR Premium WaveLight Allego Oculyzer II WaveLight AG, Germany) with the clinical diagnosis of KC and / or suspected KC were included and statistically analyzed .

Data from  5421 cases with the   average 28.8 ± 6.5 years old were analyzed over the span of  5 years starting from March 2017  to March  2021.  Based on topographic images of the pentacam () 92 eyes were diagnosed as KC. The incidence of KC was 1.7% (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.55-1.45). In keratoconic patients, the mean age was 28.1 years, the mean K1 and K2 were 45.18±3.44 D and 49.49 ± 4.28 D respectively. The mean minimal pachymetry value was 463± 6.51 um, the mean ISV (Index of Surface Variance) was 61± 32, the mean IVA (Index of Vertical Asymmetry) was 0.63±0.38.

This study provides the first population – based estimate of the incidence of keratoconus in Beni suef governorate in the Upper Egypt. According to this study incidence rate of KC is comparable to the rate among the Caucasian people in middle Asia e.g. Iran while incidence rate is much higher among Malaysia and KSA citizens.