Global Prevalence of Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD) in Adult Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE: To evaluate the global prevalence of Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD). DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: A systematic electronic literature search was conducted on PubMed/MedLine, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar, in order to select papers analysing the prevalence rate of FECD. Two authors independently conducted the electronic search. After removal of duplicates, title and abstract screening, and full-text analysis, data from selected articles were archived in a customized Excel spreadsheet. Risk of bias assessment was performed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Prevalence Critical Appraisal Tool. Meta-analysis was conducted using R (version 1.4.1106, package “meta”). RESULTS: A total of 6660 eligible articles were retrieved from the initial electronic search. Only 4 original works were included in the qualitative and quantitative analysis. Of the 4746 patients included in this meta-analysis (i.e., 2232 male (M) and 2322 female (F)), we retrieved 269 FECD cases (81 M; 188 F), with a pooled prevalence estimates of 7.33% (95% CI: 4.08–12.8%). Statistically significant gender-related differences in the prevalence of FECD emerged by the analysis (OR: 2.22; 95% CI: 1.66–2.96, p=0.0016). While the total number of people aged >30 years with FECD is nowadays estimated at nearly 300 million, an increase of 41.7% in the number of FECD-affected patients is expected by 2050, when the overall figure is supposed to rise up to 415 million. CONCLUSION: This study provides a reliable figure of the present and future epidemiological burden of FECD globally, which might be useful for the design of FECD screening, treatment, rehabilitation, and related public health strategies.