Rim TH, et al. - Researchers evaluated the annual and 5-year incidence of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) in South Korea in the overall population and in those who have used corticosteroid medications. At least once in 2002 through 2015, 90.1% of adults in Korea received corticosteroids. Nonetheless, relative risk had a clear difference, more than 30-fold increase in the risk ratio of CSC that has been reported previously could not be replicated by this data. In the year following medication use, the most vulnerable group, middle-aged men demonstrated the incidence of CSC to be approximately 1 case per 1000 corticosteroid users. Among those who had ever used corticosteroids and those who had never used these drugs, the overall incidence was 2.5 and 3.6 per 10,000 person-years, respectively. An additional evidence to support the role of corticosteroids in CSC was provided by this study.

Methods

• The cohort study of a population-based random sample conducted by the experts included East Asian adults for whom records are held in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database for calendar years 2011 through 2015.
• They performed the data analysis from July 1, 2017 to January 5, 2018.
• Any type of corticosteroid use from 2002 through 2015 was included in the exposures.
• Main outcomes and measures included the incidence of CSC.

Results

• Findings suggested that the data set contained data from 868,939 adults (4,117,768 person-years).
• From 2011 through 2015, they identified 1423 individuals (among whom the mean [SD] age was 46.8 [16.4] years and 1091 [76.7%] were male) with newly diagnosed CSC.
• As per data, from 2002 to 2015, corticosteroids were ever used by 783,099 individuals in the data set (90.1%).
• Among the total population, the incidence of CSC per 10,000 person-years was 3.5 (5.4 in men; 1.6 in women), 2.5 (3.0 in men; 1.2 in women) in those who had never used corticosteroids, and 3.6 (5.7 in men; 1.6 in women) among those who had ever used corticosteroids.
• Compared to those who have never used these drugs, the risk of CSCR with individuals who had ever used corticosteroids was estimated as an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.81 (95% CI, 1.47-2.23).
• A positive correlation with the incidence of CSC was demonstrated by current or recent corticosteroid use (depending on duration of use, adjusted hazard ratio ranged from 1.54 to 2.15).
• Results demonstrated an association of corticosteroid use in 2006 through 2009 with an increased incidence of CSC after 2011 (adjusted hazard ratio 1.57 [95% CI, 1.13-2.18]).