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Estimated Prevalence of Keratoconus in the United States From a Large Vision Insurance Database

Saleha Z Munir¹, Wuqaas M Munir, Jennifer Albrecht

¹Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences (S.Z.M.), and Epidemiology and Public Health (J.A.), University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

Eye & Contact Lens

|July 5, 2021

Abstract

Purpose:

To estimate the prevalence of keratoconus in the United States using a large vision insurance database.

Methods:

We used data from the 2016 vision service plan (VSP) Global claims database to estimate the prevalence of keratoconus among enrollees by state. The VSP Global database includes cross-sectional de-identified claims data summarized by state of residence in predefined age and gender groups. Crude values of prevalence of keratoconus are provided in the VSP Global database. The open-source software package qGIS version 3.12 was used as the geographic information system for geospatial analysis.

Results:

The prevalence of keratoconus among VSP enrollees in the United States was estimated to be 0.15% with 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.15%, 0.15%). The prevalence of keratoconus was highest in Western states and among male population. The highest prevalence of keratoconus was in Colorado (0.51%; 95% CI 0.49%-0.52%), with particularly high prevalence for men in the age groups 18 to 39 years (0.90%; 95% CI 0.84%-0.95%) and 40 to 64 years (0.90%; 95% CI 0.85%-0.95%).

Conclusion:

The average prevalence of keratoconus in the United States in 2016 may be higher than previously reported. Living in Western states and male sex were associated with high prevalence.

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