Incidence of corneal ulceration in Madurai district, South India.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence of corneal ulceration in Madurai District, South India.


METHODS
Retrospective incidence study.


METHODS
General community.


METHODS
All patients who reside in Madurai District and presented to an ophthalmologist in 1993 with corneal ulceration.


METHODS
Cases of corneal ulceration.


RESULTS
1148 cases of corneal ulceration were recorded in the medical records of those ophthalmologists who maintained records. Based upon the recorded number of cases, the annual incidence per 10,000 population was 3.4. The ratio of male to female patients was 1.6:1.0. When the estimated number of cases from those without records was added to the total number of recorded cases the annual incidence was 11.3 per 10,000 population.


CONCLUSIONS
Corneal ulceration is a common occurrence in South India. While the true incidence of this problem is impossible to determine because of the lack of medical records, we believe our estimation of the incidence to be close to the true incidence in this community.
Gonzales
C A
CA
University of California at San Francisco, USA.
Srinivasan
M
M
Whitcher
J P
JP
Smolin
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003320:Corneal Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014985:Xerophthalmia / Q000453:epidemiology