Causes of low vision in a Greek population

Abstract

PurposeLow vision (LV) is one of the major causes affecting detrimentally the quality of life of individuals. There are various underlying ocular pathologies resulting in LV. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of the main causes of low vision in a population attended a university outpatient unit in Greece.MethodsThe records of all patients within a timeframe of about 18 months period were retrospectively reviewed. In this study, individuals with best‐corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 3/60 to <6/18 were characterized as having LV, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of LV.ResultsTwo hundred thirty‐six LV patients were included—114 (48.3%) were males and 122 (51.7%) females. The age of patients ranged from ten to ninety‐nine, with a mean age of 70.9 ± 18.9 years. BCVA ranged from 1.32 logMAR to 0.33 logMAR, with a mean VA of 0.7152 ± 0.3146 logMAR in the better eye. The distribution of LV causes in this population was the following: Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) accounting for 50.0% of the cases (118/236), diabetic retinopathy (DR) 19.9% (47/236) and glaucoma 7.2% (17/236). Other causes of LV included retinitis pigmentosa in a percentage of 5.3% and other hereditary retinal diseases (3%), previous retinal detachment (2.5%), other maculopathies (2.1%) and various other ocular diseases (9.7%). Out of 118 patients with AMD, 75 (64.1%) had the dry form and 42 (35.9%) had the wet form of the disease and among patients with diabetic retinopathy as underlying cause of LV, 31 (68.9%) had the proliferative and 14 (31.1%) had the non‐proliferative form of the disease.ConclusionsAge‐related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma constituted the three main causes of low vision in the study population, followed by other ocular diseases.