This nationwide, population-based, retrospective, matched case-control study included 4334 newly diagnosed Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy (FED) patients who were identified by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), code 371.57, and selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The age-, sex-, and index-date-matched control group included 4334 non-FED controls selected from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. Ocular allergic conditions and sociodemographic conditions were examined using univariate logistic regression analyses and paired t-test was used for continuous variables. Adjusted logistic regression was used to compare the odds ratio (OR) of the FED development. Patients with ocular allergic conditions were more likely to have FED than the controls (OR = 25.50, 95% CI = 12.58-51.68, p < 0.0001) even after conditional logistic regression was conducted (adjusted OR = 25.26, 95% CI = 11.24-56.77, p < 0.0001). Regarding the sociodemographic factors, we found that more than half of the FED patients in Taiwan were aged ≥45 years old, there was an equal female-to-male ratio (1.06:1), and patients with a lower income and living in northern Taiwan had higher odds of developing FED. The results strongly support an association between ocular allergic conditions, geographic region, residential status, income, and FED.
Keywords: Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy; Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database; case–control study; ocular allergic conditions; sociodemographic factors.