Incidence of retinal detachment associated with atopic dermatitis in Japan: review of cases from 1992 to 2011

PURPOSE The present study aims to investigate the number and characteristics of retinal detachment with atopic dermatitis (AD) in these 20 years, and the number of the first visit AD outpatients in almost the same period. METHODS A retrospective review of 101 consecutive surgically treated retinal detachments with AD patients from 1992 to 2011 was conducted. Retinal detachments were divided into two groups: eyes operated on from 1992 to 2001 (former AD group, n=63) and eyes operated on from 2002 to 2011 (recent AD group, n=38). We also reviewed the records of the first visit AD outpatients from 1993 to 2011 except 1998. RESULTS The percentage of bilateral detachment was significantly higher in the former AD group (14/63) than that in the recent AD group (0/38) (P=0.0002). In addition, patients in the recent AD group were significantly older than those in the former AD group (P=0.0084). The annual cases with non-AD retinal detachment remained invariant for 20 years. The ratio of the retinal detachment with AD for the total retinal detachment was significantly lower in the recent (38/847) AD group than that in the former (63/796) AD group (P=0.0038). The number of the first visit AD outpatients linearly decreased in these 19 years (153 cases in 1993 and 65 cases in 2011). CONCLUSION Our study indicates an apparent decrease in retinal detachment with AD in the recent 10 years, and might suggest the importance of dermatitis control for prevention of retinal detachment with AD.