A retrospective study of strabismus surgery in a tertiary eye hospital in the Chaoshan area in China from 2014 to 2020

BACKGROUND: To investigate the distribution pattern of strabismus surgery at an eye center in southern China. METHODS: The data of all patients who underwent strabismus surgery at the Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University /Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2014 to 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The type of strabismus and its relationship with age and sex were analyzed, and the trend in the number of strabismus surgeries was observed. RESULTS: The data of 4640 patients included a total of 5,282 surgeries. Exotropia surgery was the most common, accounting for 54.0% of all strabismus surgeries, which tended to increase over time, but not significantly (P = 0.109). Constant exotropia was the most common exotropia, but its proportion decreased year by year. The next most common was intermittent exotropia. The percentage of surgeries for intermittent exotropia increased from 2016 to 2020. Surgery for esotropia accounted for 22.1% of all strabismus surgeries and became significantly less common from 2016 to 2020 (P < 0.01). Among patients with intermittent or constant exotropia, the proportion of patients younger than 12 years who underwent surgical intervention increased yearly, while this proportion amoung patients older 12 years old with constant exotropia decreased yearly. CONCLUSION: Among exotropia surgeries, surgery for constant exotropia was the most common but decreased in prevalence annually. Children under 12 years old were the most affected population.