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Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Incidence and risk factors for ocular GVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

We analyzed the incidence and risk factors for ocular GVHD in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in Korea. In this retrospective, noncomparative, observational study, 635 subjects were included who had at least 2 years of follow-up ophthalmological examinations after allo-HSCT from 2009 to 2012 at Seoul St Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The mean duration between allo-HSCT and onset of ocular GVHD was 225.5±194.3 days. The adjusted incidence for acute ocular GVHD was 1.33% and that for chronic GVHD was 33.33%. In the multivariate analysis, preexisting diabetes mellitus (odds ratio (OR): 4.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.66–10.72), repeated allo-HSCT (OR: 29.10, 95% CI: 1.02–8.28) and the number of organs that chronically developed GVHD by stage I (OR: 14.63, 95% CI: 9.81–21.84) increased risk of ocular GVHD. Careful monitoring of ocular GVHD is needed in patients with chronic GVHD in multiple organs and preexisting diabetes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the physicians and data managers who contributed their valuable data regarding transplantation. The statistical analyses performed in this article were supervised by the Department of Biostatics at The Catholic University of Korea. This study was funded by the National Research of Korea (2011-0027157) and Korea Health Industry Development Institutes (HI13C0370000). The funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

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Correspondence to C-K Joo.

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Na, KS., Yoo, YS., Mok, J. et al. Incidence and risk factors for ocular GVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 50, 1459–1464 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.187

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