Prevalence and associated factors for climatic droplet keratopathy in Kazakhs adults: a cross-sectional study in Tacheng, Xinjiang, China

BACKGROUND: Investigation of the prevalence of climatic droplet keratopathy (CDK) in Tacheng, Xinjiang, China. METHODS: A total of 1030 participants, in their 40s or older, from the Kazakh ethnic group in Tacheng, were randomly sampled by stratification method. Ophthalmic examinations and surveys were carried out on these participants. Factors associated with CDK were analyzed with logistic regression models. RESULTS: CDK was found in 66 (6.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.9–7.9%) Kazakh individuals. After multiple regression model analysis, it demonstrated that age (< 0.001), exposure time (< 0.001), exposure protection (< 0.001), and vegetable intake (< 0.001) were of correlation with CDK, of which age (OR = 1.21[CI]: 1.16–1.27) and long-term outdoor exposure (OR = 2.42[CI]: 1.26–4.67) were the risk factors, and that vegetable intake (OR = 0.29[CI]: 0.14–0.59) and wearing a hat (OR = 0.24[CI]: 0.10–0.56) were protective factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study has revealed the risk and protective factors of CDK, providing a new insight on related research. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-02065-4.