Distribution of blindness and low vision among patients attending out patient clinic in Tikrit Teaching Hospital 2008-2009

S .Salman, Marwan

	Distribution of blindness and low vision among patients attending out patient clinic in Tikrit Teaching Hospital 2008-2009
Medical Journal of Tikrit
Article 1, Volume 1, Issue 161, 2012, Pages 20-30
Author
Marwan S .Salman
Abstract
The magnitude and geographical distribution of blindness and low vision are greatly unknown. The current study aimed to estimate the distribution of blindness and low vision, identify the main causes of blindness and low vision, and estimate targets for blindness prevention programs. A cross-sectional study of randomly selected patients aged 5 years and above attending ophthalmological out patient clinic in tikrit teaching hospital was conducted from December 2008 to May 2009. Vision status was defined using World Health Organization categories of visual impairment based on presenting visual acuity. 2,499 (84.6%) were examined. Prevalence of blindness (presenting VA of less than 3/60 in the better eye) was 4.1%; prevalence of low vision (presenting VA of at least 3/60 but less than 18/60 in the better eye) was 7.7%; whereas prevalence of monocular visual impairment (presenting VA of at least 18/60 in better eye and VA of less than 18/60 in other eye) was 4.4%. Prevalence of blindness and low vision increased in both male and female with age. The main causes of blindness were considered to be cataract (41.2%) and glaucoma (35.3%), whereas low vision was mainly caused by glaucoma (58.1%) and cataract (29.3%).causes of monocular visual were trachoma and other causes (32.1%), cataract (22.0%). Visual impairment due to cataract and trachoma increased markedly with increasing age.other causes of visual impairment were more common in persons aged less than 30 years compared to those aged 30 years and above. Blindness is a public health problem in Salah alddin, and there is urgent need to implement comprehensive blindness prevention programs. Further surveys are essential to confirm these tragic findings and estimate prevalence of blindness and low vision in the entire region of Salah-alddin in order to facilitate planning of VISION 2020 objectives.
Keywords
Distribution of blindness and low vision among patients attending out patient clinic in Tikrit Teaching Hospital

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