Clinical and Demographic Profile of Uveal Coloboma: A Hospital-Based Study of 14,371 Eyes of 9557 Indian Patients.

Objective: To describe the demographics and clinical profile of uveal coloboma in patients presenting to a multi-tier ophthalmology hospital network in India.

Design: Cross-sectional hospital-based study.

Methods: This cross-sectional, hospital-based study included 2,817,766 new patients presenting between August 2010 and May 2021. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of uveal coloboma in at least 1 eye were included as cases. Data were collected using an electronic medical record system.

Results: Overall, 9557 patients (0.34%) were diagnosed with uveal coloboma. Just over half of the patients were male (51.82%) and were affected bilaterally (50.37%). The most common age group at presentation was individuals in the second decade of life, comprising 2198 patients (23%). The overall prevalence was higher in patients of lower socio-economic status (0.53%) and from rural areas (0.39%). The most common type was retino-choroidal coloboma in 8049 patients (84.22%), followed by iris coloboma in 2129 patients (22.28%). The most common Ida Mann classification in the eyes with retino-choroidal coloboma was type 4 in 7049 eyes (57.23%), followed by type 2 in 3685 eyes (29.92%). Of the 14,371 eyes, 5696 eyes (39.64%) had a visual impairment of blindness (>20/400), followed by mild or no visual impairment (<20/70) in 2875 eyes (20.01%). In the 2228 eyes (15.5%) that required a surgical/ laser intervention, cataract surgery was performed in 951 eyes (6.62%), vitreo-retinal surgery in 661 eyes (4.6%), followed by laser photocoagulation in 357 eyes (2.48%).

Conclusion: Uveal coloboma is more common in male individuals and is predominantly bilateral in the population studied. It is more commonly found in patients from lower socio-economic strata and from a rural background. The most common type is retino-choroidal coloboma, and more than one-third of the eyes are affected by blindness.