Week in Review: Wartime Injuries and Cataract Risk, Diabetic Retinopathy in Young Adults, Uveitis in Children With Down Syndrome

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

Battlefield injuries can lead to later cataract development. Associations between traumatic cataract and different types of ocular trauma were seen in a population of 756 active-duty and National Guard service members treated at US military facilities and/or civilian facilities. After adjusting for sex, age, and other factors, the relative risks of cataract development due to traumatic brain injury, ocular trauma, or polytrauma were 2.32, 5.71, and 8.95, respectively. The most common injuries to cause traumatic cataracts were intraocular foreign bodies, penetrating injuries, and lacerations, and 62% of trauma exposures occurred on the battlefield. Military Medicine

Diabetic retinopathy prevalence is rising at higher rates in younger adults than in older adults. A cross-sectional study of US Collaborative Network data, encompassing electronic health records from more than 93 million patients, found that between 2015 and 2022 the prevalence of type 1 diabetes–related diabetic retinopathy (T1DR) increased 1.15-fold and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes–related diabetic retinopathy (T2DR) increased 1.07-fold. For both T1DR and T2DR, the greatest increases were seen in people aged 20–39 years. The T1DR increases were seen across racial and ethnic categories, while Hispanic patients had the highest prevalence of T2DR. Additional studies are recommended to confirm these findings. JAMA Ophthalmology

Children with Down syndrome may not have an increased risk of developing pediatric uveitis. Using information from the multinational TriNetX health network database, investigators conducted a large-scale, retrospective, population-based study to evaluate the risk of uveitis development in children with Down syndrome (age ≤18 years). A cohort of 53,993 children with Down syndrome was identified and matched with a cohort of children without Down syndrome. While more cases of uveitis and uveitis-related diseases (e.g., iridocyclitis) were seen in the Down syndrome cohort, the investigators concluded that this did not translate into significantly increased risk. These findings were seen across age and gender subgroups. The study did contain several limitations, so the authors advise that future studies contain more diverse populations and include laboratory test data (e.g., C-reactive protein and leukocyte levels). Medicina