title: Prevalence of idiopathic macular hole in adult rural and urban south Indian population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of idiopathic macular hole in a defined community in Southern India.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 7774 of the 9546 enumerated (81.43%) subjects availed themselves for an ophthalmic assessment which included a detailed ophthalmic examination and fundus photography. All data were entered and stored in a secure computerized database and statistical analysis was performed using spss for Windows.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen subjects comprising six males and seven females were diagnosed with macular holes equating to a risk of 0.17%. Bilateral macular holes were found in two subjects. The mean age of subjects with a macular hole was 67 years. Increasing age and history of cataract surgery was strongly associated with an increased prevalence of macular holes (P < 0.0001). There was no difference in the prevalence of macular hole between the rural and urban communities. The mean logMAR visual acuity of subjects in the eye with a macular hole was 1.31 +/- 0.45 whereas the acuity in the unaffected fellow eye was 0.70 +/- 0.51. The mean spherical equivalent in the subjects with macular hole was -0.56 +/- 1.92 (-4.25 to +1.00).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence rate of idiopathic macular hole in South India appears to be comparable to that seen worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Bhagwan Mahavir Vitreo-Retinal Services, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Parveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhargava
authors.forename: Lingam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vijaya
authors.forename: Ronnie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: George
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014792:Visual Acuity