Prevalence and clinical characteristics of neurotrophic keratopathy in hispanic population in northeastern Mexico

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of neurotrophic keratopathy (NK) in northeastern Mexico. METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study in which NK patients admitted to our ophthalmology clinic between 2015 and 2021 were consecutively enrolled. Data regarding demographics, clinical characteristics, and comorbidities were collected at the time diagnosis of NK was made. RESULTS: In the period from 2015 to 2021, a total of 74,056 patients were treated and of these 42 had a diagnosis of neurotrophic keratitis. The prevalence found was 5.67 [CI95 3.95–7.38] in 10,000 cases. The mean age observed was 59 ± 17.21 years occurring more frequently in males in 59% and with corneal epithelial defects in 66.7%. The most frequent antecedents were the use of topical medications in 90%, the presence of diabetes mellitus 2 in 40.5% and systemic arterial hypertension in 26.2%. A higher proportion of male patients with corneal alterations and a higher proportion of female patients with corneal ulcerations and/or perforation were observed. CONCLUSION: Neurotrophic keratitis is an underdiagnosed disease with a broad clinical spectrum. The antecedents that were contracted corroborate what was reported in the literature as risk factors. The prevalence of the disease in this geographical area was not reported, so it is expected to increase over time when searching for it intentionally.