Korean J Ophthalmol.  2008 Jun;22(2):77-80. 10.3341/kjo.2008.22.2.77.

The Prevalence and Demographic Characteristics of Anterior Polar Cataract in a Hospital-Based Study in Korea

• Kim H
• Joo CK

• KMID: 1098999
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3341/kjo.2008.22.2.77

Abstract

PURPOSE: Anterior Polar Cataract (APC) develops by a mechanism different from that of other age-related cataracts, and outside of Korea, it is an extremely rare condition. We investigated the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of APC in Koreans. METHODS: The evaluation on the prevalence of APC in comparison to the other age-related cataracts was performed on the 2,108 cataract patients who were treated at 5 different areas in Korea from August 2003 to December 2003. The demographic characteristics of APC were studied on the, 656 cataract patients who were treated from January 2004 to January 2005 at one hospital. These patients were classified according to the type of lens opacity (nuclear, cortical, posterior subcapsular, mixed and APC). RESULTS: The prevalence of patients with APC among all the cataract patients was 6.02% during the 5 months in this hospital-based study. Eighty-seven per cent of patients with APC were male. In contrast, the proportion of female was greater than 50% in the other cataracts. The mean age of APC patients was 52.7 years. Among the APC patients, 38.9% were under 50 years of age, 42.6% in their 50s, 14.8% in their 60s, and 3.7% were in their 70s. However, 80% of patients were over the age of 60 years in nuclear, cortical, and mixed-type cataracts. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of APC among all cataracts was high in comparision with another country. The proportion of APC was high in individuals younger than 60 years of age, and in males.

Keyword

Anterior polar cataract; Cataract; Demographic characteristic; Epidemiology; Prevalence

MeSH Terms

Adult
Age Distribution
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cataract/classification/*epidemiology
Female
Hospitals, General/*statistics & numerical data
Humans
Korea/epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Ophthalmology/statistics & numerical data
Prevalence
Sex Distribution

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Study districts in Korea. (1) Seoul, (2) Daejeon, (3) Kwangju, (4) Daegu, (5) Pusan.

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  Fig. 2 Anterior polar cataract (Courtesy of Choun-Ki Joo).

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  Fig. 3 Distribution of women and men by cataract type. (A) Anterior polar (n=54), (N) Nuclear (n=77), (C) Cortical (n=210), (P) Posterior subcapsular (n=47), (N+C) Nuclear+Cortical (n=95), (N+P) Nuclear+Posterior subcapsular (n=53), (N+C+P) Nuclear+Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=65), (C+P) Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=55). Chi-square test, p<0.001.

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  Fig. 4 Mean age by cataract type. (A) Anterior polar (n=54), (N) Nuclear (n=77), (C) Cortical (n=210), (P) Posterior subcapsular (n=47), (N+C) Nuclear+Cortical (n=95), (N+P) Nuclear+Posterior subcapsular (n=53), (N+C+P) Nuclear+Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=65), (C+P) Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=55). ANOVA, p<0.001.

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  Fig. 5 Distribution of age by cataract type. (A) Anterior polar (n=54), (N) Nuclear (n=77), (C) Cortical (n=210), (P) Posterior subcapsular (n=47), (N+C) Nuclear+Cortical (n=95), (N+P) Nuclear+Posterior subcapsular (n=53), (N+C+P) Nuclear+Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=65), (C+P) Cortical+Posterior subcapsular (n=55). ANOVA, Scheffe test, p<0.001.

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