Abstract
BackgroundLow vision, along with cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, childhood blindness and refractive error, is one of the priorities in the global initiative, VISION 2020-The Right to Sight. The purpose of this study was to characterize the traits of patients presenting at a low vision clinic in China.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted of the records of 299 patients who visited the Low Vision Clinic of Eye and ENT Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from January 2009 to May 2014. Reviewed parameters included age, gender, education, occupation, cause of visual impairment and types of low vision aids (LVAs) dispensed.ResultsOf all the patients (193 male; aged from 3 to 96 years, with a mean of 29.74 ± 25.23 years), 43.48% experienced moderate visual impairment, 25.42% had severe visual impairment and 21.07% were blind. The four major causes of visual impairment were congenital cataract (14.38%), degenerative myopia (13.71%), juvenile macular degeneration (9.36%) and retinitis pigmentosa (9.36%). The most common causes of visual impairment were congenital cataract (22.67%) in 0-19-year-olds, retinitis pigmentosa (20.62%) in 20-59-year-olds, and age-related macular degeneration (36.54%) in the 60+ group. With the help of LVAs, a significant improvement of distance and/or near vision or visual field was observed in 243 patients, of whom 185 accepted LVAs and 58 patients refused due to high price, inconvenience, young age (≤6 y), clumsy appearance and ignorance. The most commonly dispensed LVAs were stand magnifiers (21.57%) followed by spectacle-type LVAs (19.21%).ConclusionsThe majority of the patients in our low vision clinic were young, the main causes of visual impairment were congenital and hereditary diseases. Stand magnifiers were the most commonly dispensed LVAs. High price was the major reason for refusing LVAs.
Highlights
Low vision, along with cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, childhood blindness and refractive error, is one of the priorities in the global initiative, VISION 2020-The Right to Sight
The four major causes of visual impairment were congenital cataract (14.38%), degenerative myopia (13.71%), juvenile macular degeneration (9.36%) and retinitis pigmentosa (9.36%)
Near vision or visual field was observed in 243 patients, of whom 185 accepted low vision aids (LVAs) and 58 patients refused due to high price, inconvenience, young age (≤6 y), clumsy appearance and ignorance
Summary
Along with cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, childhood blindness and refractive error, is one of the priorities in the global initiative, VISION 2020-The Right to Sight. The World Health organization (WHO) reported in that 314 million people had visual impairment in the world, of whom 45 million were blind, 124 million were classified as having low vision after best correction, and 145 million worldwide were visually impaired due to uncorrected refractive errors [1]. These figures have been reduced with the effective implementation of the program entitled Vision 2020: The Right to Sight and the appropriate interventions. Based on surveys conducted in the rural areas combined with data from urban settings, an estimated million Chinese are visually impaired, with 8 million being blind and 67 million having low vision [3,4,5]
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