Abstract :
Background: Blindness, loss of eyesight, could be temporary or permanent. Damage to any portion of the eye, optic nerve or the brain that is responsible for this function results in visual impairment. The commonest causes for blindness are cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma, corneal opacities.
Aim: Assess major causes of visual impairment among new patients visiting ophthalmology OPD.
Settings and Design: Study conducted using a cross sectional survey design. Data collected from ophthalmology OPD of a tertiary care hospital
Materials and Methods: The proportion of ocular diseases, degree of blindness and causative factors were assessed and recorded. Patient’s visual impairment status was classified as mild, moderate, severe and blind according to WHO classification for visual impairment and blindness (Oct. 2019). Visual acuity, auto refraction, colour vision, intra ocular pressure measurement, slit lamp and fundus examinations were carried out. Data Entry: MS Excel. Statistics: chi square, proportions.
Results: There were 303 participants, 42.2% males and 57.8% females and 0.3% were blind, 1% severely visually impaired, 3.3% moderately impaired, 4% mildly impaired. Among the 106 diabetic patients, 30 diabetic retinopathy cases were observed. There were 1.02% participants with impaired colour vision, refractive errors 54.8%, cataract 35.4%, diabetic retinopathy 9.9%, glaucoma 9.2%.
Discussion: Refractive error and cataract were most frequent. Color blindness was less common. Cataract and glaucoma was not observed before 40 years of age.
Conclusion: Visual impairment across regions are similar, refractive error and cataract were leading causes of visual impairment.
Keyword :
Cataract, Colour blindness, New cases, Refractive error, Visual impairment, WHO classification.