Background

To assess the prevalence and pattern of retinal diseases in a sample population of older adults in the city of Lodz, Poland.

Material and methods

An observational cross-sectional study was designed. 1107 enrolled subjects of European Caucasian descent, most of whom live, or have lived, in the city of Lodz in central Poland, were interviewed and underwent detailed ophthal­mic examinations including optical coherence tomography and fluorescein angiography.

Results

The mean age of study participants was 60.4 ± 12.8 years. Overall, retinal diseases were detected in 9.12% (95% CI 7.43 – 10.82) of all study subjects. Age-related macular degeneration was the most common retinal disease, which accounted for 47.5% of all detected retinal diseases. Age-related macular degeneration was followed by diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion and epi-retinal membrane, which accounted for 18.8%, 5.9% and 5.9% respectively. The prevalence rates of these retinal diseases were age-related macular degeneration 4.33%, diabetic retinopathy 1.72%, retinal vein occlusion 0.54% and epi-retinal membrane 0.54%. Other common retinal diseases were degenerative myopia, retinal detachment, post-traumatic macular scar, central retinitis and macular hole. Multiple logistic regression modelling including age, gender and socio-economic status as predictor variables only demonstrated significant correlation between retinal diseases and older age (OR 1.43, 95% CI 0.92–1.95).

Conclusions

The total prevalence of retinal diseases in our study population was similar to the findings from other parts of the world and was only significantly associated with older age.