Prevalencia y factores de riesgo para el pterigium en la población de "Hebi": Henan provincia, China 2009

objective: to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of pterygium to favor the strategies to control the causes of the disease in henan province, people's republic of china. method: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional research was carried out having a target group of 3940 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of pterygium in an active screening "house to house" during april 2008 to january 2009 taking a sample of 415 patients attending to "hebi" hospital. results: female sex (53%), the age bracket of 31-50 years old and farmers prevailed in the study. pterygium of degree ii, primary and active, having nasal location and fleshy type was predominant. lachrymal film affected the 57, 5% of the cases in study and 55,9% presented corneal affection. conclusions: a strong connection was found among lachrymal hyposecretion, corneal alterations and the presence of pterygium depending on the degree of ailment; which will allow establishing personalized protocols in the conduct to be followed for each patient who suffers the disease.