Demographic study of vernal keratoconjunctivitis in tertiary eye centre in Eastern India

Abstract

Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a chronic form of ocular allergy that can potentially cause severe visual complications, affecting mainly children and young adults. The objective of this study is to evaluate the age group involved, sex predilection, occupation, seasonal variations, type of disease and prevalence of corneal involvement in cases presented to tertiary eye care centres of Eastern India.A total of 180 patients with signs and symptoms of VKC, who presented between April 2019 to March 2021 were studied. Patients who were not having any systemic or ocular illness and not received systemic or ocular medications during the four weeks, were included in the study. Most of the patients were found to be between 6 to 15 years (67.22%) age group and 70% are male. 71.66% of the patients were school going children. Majority of the patients were presented in the month of April to September (71.11%) i.e. during warm weather. Bulbar variety (42.22%) are most common type of VKC and 68.51% cases had corneal involvement at presentation.Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis is the disease of childhood, mostly during school going age and more commonly affects males. It is usually bilateral and more prevalent during hot and humid climate.