Patient demographics influence utilization of care for eye conditions

Certain demographics, such as age, race, and sex, impact the utilization of care for certain inflammatory and infectious eye diseases, according to a presentation at ARVO2021.

In this retrospective, observational study, researchers utilized data from the IRIS Registry to identify ocular disorders, including inflammatory and infectious eye disease categories. Utilization for inflammatory and infectious eye disease was stratified by age, sex and race.

Between 2016 and 2018, researchers found a decrease in utilization for these categories, which remained when utilization was stratified by sex, race and age. For each year, Asians and Native American had higher utilization.

Patients younger than 39 years old of both genders and regardless of race had lower utilization, which steadily increased after the age of 40 years. Women had higher utilization throughout all races.

“This remains when utilization is stratified by race; a black female has higher utilization than a black male,” the authors said.

Reference
Chauhan K. Age, race and sex influence utilization of care for the inflammatory and infectious eye diseases in the United States. Presented at: ARVO2021