Exfoliation Syndrome in Egypt: Prevalence and Association with Cataract in a Large Cohort.

Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is an age-related disease characterized by the deposition of distinctive material in many eye and systemic tissues, with resultant eye (lens opacities, chronic rise in eye pressure, and more frequent surgical complications during lens surgeries) and systemic health implications (hearing loss and cardiovascular diseases). It is a universal disease that occurs in virtually all countries and whose percentage among individuals varies from one country to another, hence the importance of studies determining its percentage. We conducted our study on a large group of individuals encompassing more than 155,000 individuals aged over 40 years in the period between January 2015 and June 2020, to determine how frequent it is in Egypt and its different regions, and determine its common associations. Overall, it had moderate frequency, most commonly found among older subjects, men, those residing in territorial areas of Egypt as well as those having cataracts and lens opacities. Given Egypt's unique geographical location being a transcontinental country (Afro-Asian), and belonging to Middle Eastern as well as Mediterranean countries, our results can be extrapolated to other neighboring countries and are not exclusive to Egypt. Studying this prevalence will give insights into risk factors for the disease that could possibly be modified, as well as determining the population at risk to help stakeholders to design effective screening programs.