Human cataract prevalence in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state

Abstract

Aim:-Hospital based study from April 2005 to March 2011 conducted among the population to determine the prevalence of cataract in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state of India. Methodology:-The data’s collected from registers of ophthalmology department of district hospital Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram district to access the gender prevalence and prevalence of different age groups. The total number of cataract operation carried in Thiruvananthapuram district was collected from Directorate of Health, Thiruvananthapuram to evaluate the prevalence among the total population. Significance of cataract prevalence was analysed using MATLAB and SPSS statistical package. Result:Among the total population cataract prevalence in Thiruvananthapuram district was increased from 0.35 % to 0.48% (p = 0.001). Gender prevalence is significantly higher in females (51.9%, 0.004) than in males, suggest that females are more cataract patients. A significantly highest prevalence recorded in the age group of 61-70 years (34.3%, 0.00001) compared with other age groups between 0-100 years. Conclusion:-The present studies of cataract prevalence in Thiruvananthapuram district may to some extend throw light on the gravity of cataract incidence in Kerala state. The present study has shown that Kerala has been able to arrest the increasing prevalence of blindness by improving the general health conditions of individuals and by decreasing the population growth. Kerala still has a problem of treatable blindness, despite being a state with total literacy and good health infrastructure. So a community based programme is also a good strategy for decreasing the cataract prevalence.