Demographics and clinical profile of patients with ocular Calotropis poisoning in India

PURPOSE: To describe the clinical profile of patients with ocular Calotropis poisoning presenting to a multitier ophthalmology hospital network in India. METHODS: This cross-sectional hospital-based study included 2,047,360 new patients presenting between August 2010 and March 2020. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of Calotropis poisoning in at least one eye were included. The data were collected using an electronic medical record system. Descriptive statistics using mean ± standard deviation and median with inter-quartile range (IQR) were used to elucidate the demographic data. Chi-square test was done for univariate analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 362 (0.018%) new patients were diagnosed with ocular Calotropis poisoning during the study period. The mean age of the patients was 44.10 ± 18.61 years. The incidence rates were 0.013% in children and 0.018% in adults. Males were 57.46% and 87.29% had unilateral affliction. A significant number of patients presented from the rural geography (59.67%) and were from the higher socioeconomic class (72.65%). About a fourth of the patients were homemakers (23.48%) followed by agriculture workers (18.23%). Of the 408 affected eyes, 49.26% had mild visual impairment (<20/70) followed by moderate visual impairment (>20/70 to ≤ 20/200) in 23.28%. The most common clinical signs were conjunctival congestion (61.03%), descemet membrane folds (57.35%), stromal edema (30.39%), and corneal epithelial defect (24.51%). CONCLUSION: Calotropis poisoning in individuals seeking eye care in India is very rare. It is commonly unilateral and occurs more in the rural geography. It is common in middle-aged males and may affect vision due to involvement of the cornea.