TY - JOUR

T1 - Socio-economic characteristics of patients with generalized retinal dystrophy in Denmark

AU - Bertelsen, Mette

AU - Linneberg, Allan

AU - Rosenberg, Thomas

N1 - © 2014 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2015/3

Y1 - 2015/3

N2 - PURPOSE: To examine socio-economic characteristics of patients with generalized retinal dystrophy in Denmark.METHODS: Cross-sectional population-based study with analysis of socio-economic characteristics including income, education, employment status and civil status in 2285 patients from the Danish Retinitis Pigmentosa Registry and 228,500 control subjects matched by age and gender. Demographic and socio-economic data were retrieved from Statistics Denmark. Differences between cases and controls were estimated using conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: On 1 January 2012, 2285 patients with a Danish civil registration number were registered as having a generalized retinal dystrophy. At the age of 40 years, less patients than controls had a high education (odds ratio (OR), 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI95), 0.41-0.62), a high income (OR, 0.21; CI95, 0.17-0.26) and were married (OR, 0.39; CI95, 0.33-0.45). More patients than controls were pensioners (OR, 6.04; CI95, 5.23-6.97).CONCLUSIONS: We found that patients with generalized retinal dystrophy differed significantly from a matched control group on several socio-economic characteristics. The differences were more pronounced in patients with systemic involvement and patients with an early age at disease presentation. The socio-economic inequalities of this group of blinding diseases emphasize the importance of rehabilitation and need for a substantial and multidisciplinary support from the healthcare, educational and social systems.

AB - PURPOSE: To examine socio-economic characteristics of patients with generalized retinal dystrophy in Denmark.METHODS: Cross-sectional population-based study with analysis of socio-economic characteristics including income, education, employment status and civil status in 2285 patients from the Danish Retinitis Pigmentosa Registry and 228,500 control subjects matched by age and gender. Demographic and socio-economic data were retrieved from Statistics Denmark. Differences between cases and controls were estimated using conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: On 1 January 2012, 2285 patients with a Danish civil registration number were registered as having a generalized retinal dystrophy. At the age of 40 years, less patients than controls had a high education (odds ratio (OR), 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI95), 0.41-0.62), a high income (OR, 0.21; CI95, 0.17-0.26) and were married (OR, 0.39; CI95, 0.33-0.45). More patients than controls were pensioners (OR, 6.04; CI95, 5.23-6.97).CONCLUSIONS: We found that patients with generalized retinal dystrophy differed significantly from a matched control group on several socio-economic characteristics. The differences were more pronounced in patients with systemic involvement and patients with an early age at disease presentation. The socio-economic inequalities of this group of blinding diseases emphasize the importance of rehabilitation and need for a substantial and multidisciplinary support from the healthcare, educational and social systems.

KW - Adult

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - Educational Status

KW - Employment

KW - Family Characteristics

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Income

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Registries

KW - Retinal Dystrophies

KW - Social Class

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

U2 - 10.1111/aos.12467

DO - 10.1111/aos.12467

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24953749

VL - 93

SP - 134

EP - 140

JO - Acta Ophthalmologica

JF - Acta Ophthalmologica

SN - 1755-375X

IS - 2

ER -