Ocular and periocular tumors in 855 Asian Indian geriatric patients

The objective of this study was to describe the eye tumors in Asian Indian geriatric population (age >60 years) presenting to a multitier ophthalmology hospital network in India.

This was a retrospective study of 855 Asian Indian geriatric patients.

During the 3-year study period, 855 geriatric patients were diagnosed with eye tumors. The mean age at presentation with an ocular or periocular tumor was 68 years (median, 67 years; range, 60-91 years). There were 458 (54%) benign tumors and 397 (46%) malignant tumors. The distribution of benign versus malignant tumors in different age groups was 324 (71%) versus 259 (65%) in 60-70 years, 116 (25%) versus 99 (25%) in 71-80 years, and 18 (4%) versus 39 (10%) in >80 years' age groups. The three most common benign tumors included eyelid cyst (n = 99, 22%), eyelid nevus (n = 50, 11%), and pseudotumor or nonspecific orbital inflammatory disease (n = 38, 8%). The three most common malignant tumors included ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) (n = 208, 52%), periocular sebaceous gland carcinoma (n = 68, 17%), and periocular basal cell carcinoma (n = 25, 6%). Overall, OSSN was the most common tumor in all age groups (22% of all tumors in 60-70 years, 27% in 71-80 years, and 39% in >80 years' age groups).

Overall, there is an increasing trend of malignant tumors with increasing age. OSSN is the most common tumor in the geriatric population encountered in a referral-based comprehensive ocular oncology practice in India.