Longitudinal analysis of central serous chorioretinopathy and sex

Stress has been proposed as one of the contributing factors of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Because the number of women in the workforce has increased dramatically in past decades, their presumed additional stress may increase their risk for CSC. We performed a study to determine whether the ratio of men to women in whom CSC was diagnosed remained constant between 1970 and 2000 in our patient population.

We reviewed the medical records of 88 patients (69 males and 19 females) in whom CSC was diagnosed between 1970 and 2000. Only patients who were noted to have subretinal fluid on stereoscopic colour fundus photographs and focal retinal pigment epithelial hyperfluorescence on fluorescein angiography were included. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the probability of a patient's being male over the study period.

No significant change was found in the proportion of male patients in whom CSC was diagnosed over the study period (p = 0.69).

The ratio of males to females with a diagnosis of CSC did not change significantly over 30 years in our study population. If stress is a contributing factor of CSC and if women are experiencing increased stress from changing societal roles, women may have different adaptations to stress than men, or other mechanisms of CSC formation may be present.