Purpose

To review the literature on the etiopathogenesis of keratoconus (KC).

Methods

A literature search was conducted using PUBMED and Google Scholar for keratoconus. The authors analyzed epidemiology studies, reviews, and case reports.

Results

Atopy and ocular surface inflammation are a common features of KC and should lead to a reconsideration of the traditional definition of KC as a “non inflammatory” condition. Co-morbidities suggest that KC may be the ocular manifestation of a systemic disease. Finally, KC shows higher prevalence in certain ethnicities, which calls into question the status of KC as a rare disease, at least in these communities.

Conclusion

We believe that future studies should test whether selected, high prevalence populations exhibit specific genetic background and/or ethno-specific environmental risk factors.

中文翻译：

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圆锥角膜之谜：侧重于发病机理的综述。

目的

回顾有关圆锥角膜病（KC）病因的文献。

方法

使用PUBMED和Google Scholar对圆锥角膜进行了文献检索。作者分析了流行病学研究，评论和病例报告。

结果

特应性疾病和眼表炎症是KC的常见特征，应导致人们重新考虑将KC定义为“非炎症性”疾病。合并症提示，KC可能是全身性疾病的眼部表现。最后，KC在某些种族中显示较高的患病率，这使人们怀疑KC作为罕见病的状况，至少在这些社区中如此。

结论

我们认为，未来的研究应测试选定的高流行人群是否表现出特定的遗传背景和/或特定于种族的环境危险因素。