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. 2011 Jan;129(1):69-74.
doi: 10.1001/archophthalmol.2010.320.

Incidence, ocular findings, and systemic associations of ocular coloboma: a population-based study

Kelly M Nakamura  1 , Nancy N Diehl, Brian G Mohney
Affiliations

Incidence, ocular findings, and systemic associations of ocular coloboma: a population-based study

Kelly M Nakamura et al. Arch Ophthalmol. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To describe the incidence, ocular findings, and systemic associations of coloboma in a population-based cohort of children.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of pediatric (aged <19 years) patients diagnosed as having ocular coloboma from January 1, 1968, through December 31, 2007, as residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota.

Results: Thirty-three children were newly diagnosed as having ocular coloboma (annual incidence, 2.4 per 100,000 residents <19 years old; prevalence, 1 in 2077 live births). Median patient age at diagnosis was 3.9 months (range, 2 days to 18.4 years), and 22 patients (67%) had unilateral involvement. Twelve patients (36%) had involvement of the anterior segment only, 13 (39%) of the posterior segment only, and 8 (24%) of both. During median ophthalmologic follow-up of 9.2 years (range, 13 days to 35.9 years), 19 patients (58%) had other ocular disorders, including amblyopia in 11 (33%) and strabismus in 10 (30%). During median medical follow-up of 16.8 years, 22 patients (67%) were diagnosed as having a nonocular disorder, including abnormal development in 12 (36%) and CHARGE (coloboma, heart defects, choanal atresia, retarded growth and development, genital abnormalities, and ear anomalies) syndrome in 4 (12%).

Conclusions: Ocular coloboma occurred in 1 in 2077 live births. More than half of the patients were diagnosed as having an ocular disorder other than coloboma, including strabismus and amblyopia in approximately one-third. Two-thirds of patients were diagnosed as having a nonocular disorder, including CHARGE syndrome in 1 in 8 patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

No authors have any financial/conflicting interests to disclose

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age at diagnosis of ocular coloboma among 33 Children from Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1968 to 2007.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Colobomas and amblyopia.
    Lempert P. Lempert P. Arch Ophthalmol. 2011 Nov;129(11):1505; author reply 1506. doi: 10.1001/archophthalmol.2011.324. Arch Ophthalmol. 2011. PMID: 22084229 No abstract available.

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