Abstract
BACKGROUND: Macular holes are among the common causes of irreversible visual impairment. At an early stage macular holes may be asymptomatic which is a pressing problem in the diagnosis of this pathology.
AIM: This work analyzes the prevalence of non-full-thickness and full-thickness macular holes in the population of the Republic of Bashkortostan, depending on the age, gender, and nature of the respondents settlement.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Ural Eye and Medical Study was conducted and included 5899 people.
RESULTS: In the study population, macular holes were detected in 64 patients (1.1%, 71 eyes), including non-full-thickness macular holes revealed in 46 (0.8%) cases, and full-thickness macular holes found in 18 (0.3%) cases. The average age of patients with macular holes was 67.809.34 years, which significantly exceeded the average age of individuals in the study population (59.010.7 years; p 0.001). The incidence of macular holes among women was 1.35%, and that of men was 0.81%. In contrast, it was 0.96% among urban residents and 1.34% among rural residents. In the patient population with macular holes, and especially in the subpopulation with non-full-thickness macular holes, a significant predominance of this pathology was registered in female patients and urban residents.
CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of macular holes in the Republic of Bashkortostan was 1.1%, in line with the average global level. Non-full-thickness macular hole predominance among urban residents in the absence of a significant difference in gender characteristics and the prevalence of full-thickness macular holes is a distinguishing feature in the epidemiology of macular holes for the region under study.