Clinical, Socio-economic and Environmental Factors Related with Recurrences in Ocular Toxoplasmosis in Quindio, Colombia

Purpose To identify the sociodemographic, clinical, and environmental factors associated with recurrences in ocular toxoplasmosis (OT). Methods Retrospective analysis of clinical records of patients who consulted in the Health Centre at Universidad del Quindio between 2004 and 2017. Patients with retinochoroiditis due to Toxoplasma gondii infection and follow up >12 months were included. Comparisons were made with a recurrence index adjusted for months of follow up. For the statistical analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were performed in Epi Info 7.2 and SPSS 14.0. A statistical significance is shown if p <= 0.05. Results A total of 58 patients were included, with median age of 28 years (range 1-61) and 55.1% were women. The median of recurrences was 1.4 (range 0.6-16.6). High recurrence index was present in 43.1% of the patients. A higher size of lesions was observed in low socioeconomic groups (p = .016) and patients with congenital infection had more bilateral compromise (p = .002). Intake of boiled water was related to a lower recurrence index (p = .04). Conclusions Low socioeconomic level was associated with bigger lesions and congenital infection was related with higher frequency of bilateral OT. Finally, intake of boiled water is related to a lower recurrence index of OT.

Automated summary

This study found that low socioeconomic level was associated with bigger lesions, congenital infection was related with higher frequency of bilateral OT, and intake of boiled water was related to a lower recurrence index of OT.