Abstract
Objectives
Over the past 40 years, Botulinum Neurotoxin (BoNT) treatment has been used in many presentations to the hospital eye service. There is little published on its practice in an ophthalmology setting. We aim to report on the prevalence of BoNT use, indications for treatment, age, gender, socioeconomic and ethnic variations observed, and dosages used.
Methods
We performed a retrospective cross sectional observation study on the use of botulinum neurotoxin treatment in the oculoplastic department of a busy tertiary centre in the University Hospitals of Leicester, United Kingdom.
Results
The prevalence of BoNT in the service was 13.7 per 100,000 people. Of the 145 cases identified, the commonest indications for treatment were hemifacial spasm (62% of cases) and blepharospasm (29% of cases). Proportionally, twice as many females than males received BoNT (χ2 = 17.3, p < 0.0001). For those >30 years of age, the prevalence increased with age with those >90 years having a seven times higher prevalence than the mean. Overall, no significant differences were found in ethnicity and median index of multiple deprivation rank between those with treatment and the general population although specific district council variations were noted.
Conclusions
These findings would assist commissioners in providing adequate resources to meet demand based on the demographics of their local population. Further qualitative and quantitative research is required to enhance our understanding of some of these trends.
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Change history
03 August 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-021-01712-w
References
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Susan Abrahams, Manju Mathai and Fran Simonini who serve as oculoplastic nurse specialists at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. MGT is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR, CL-2017-11-003). The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.
Funding
MGT is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR, CL-2017-11-003). The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.
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IDS was responsible for study conceptualisation and design. IDS and CL were responsible for data collection. IDS, CL and MGT were responsible for data analysis and interpretation. IDS, CL and MGT contributed to literature review. IDS and MGT prepared the original draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to critical review, editing and revisions of the manuscript.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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The original online version of this article was revised: Unfortunately, in the table 1 on the last column where the rates should be written as per 100,000 instead of per 1,000.
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De Silva, I., Lim, C., Thomas, M. et al. Prevalence, indications and demographic characteristics of Botulinum neurotoxin use in a tertiary oculoplastic centre. Eye 36, 1409–1411 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-021-01637-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-021-01637-4
