Systemic Factors Associated with Central Serous Chorioretinopathy in Koreans

PURPOSE To investigate systemic factors associated with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 113 Korean patients who were diagnosed with CSC and who underwent history taking with a specialized questionnaire for CSC. They were matched for age and gender at a ratio of 1 : 3 to 339 normal controls. Normal controls were consecutively selected from a database at the Health Promotion Center. General characteristics and medical histories were compared between the two groups. The statistical analyses used included independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test, Fisher's exact test, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS There were 90 men and 23 women in the CSC group, and the male-female ratio for both groups was 3.9 : 1. The mean age of the patients was 45.6 years. In multivariate analysis, hypertension (odds ratio [OR], 2.327; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.349-4.013), use of medicinal plants (OR, 2.198; 95% CI, 1.193-4.049), sleep disturbances (OR, 1.732; 95% CI, 1.096-2.739), and snoring (OR, 1.727; 95% CI, 1.058-2.820) were strongly associated with CSC. CONCLUSIONS Hypertension, sleep disturbance, snoring, and medicinal plant use were identified as factors associated with CSC. Expanded history taking, including systemic factors and culture-specific behavior related to stress or fatigue such as use of medicinal plants, will be helpful in identifying Korean patients at an increased risk for CSC.