Abstract
BackgroundGlobally, ocular morbidity has emerged as a major public concern with at least 2.2 billion people having vision impairment or blindness. Prisoners (inmates) tend to have limited access to health care especially eye health, and as a result some conditions may go undiagnosed or mismanaged. With the increasing prison population in Uganda and in the face of limited facilities, little is known about the prevalence and factors associated with ocular morbidity amongst inmates of Luzira prison.MethodThis was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on inmates of Luzira prison. The study included both male (334) and female (33) inmates using the proportionate stratified random sampling. Data on social demographic characteristics, medical, imprisonment factors and ocular assessment was collected using a questionnaire. All complete data was entered using an Epidata version 3.1 entry template, and logistic regression was used to determine associated factors.ResultsOverall, a total of 367 inmates were examined consisting of 334 (91%) males and 33(8.9%) females. The male-to-female ratio was 10:1 with ages ranging from 18 to 76 years. The mean age being 39 years (SD + 13.4) and the overall ocular morbidity was found to be 49%. The most common ocular morbidity included; presbyopia (27.4%), allergic conjunctivitis (19.6%) and cataracts (11.4%). Other disorders included; refractive errors, pterygia, optic atrophy and vitamin A deficiency. There was a statistically significant relationship between ocular morbidity and age (OR 11.96, CI 0.85–2.74), trauma (OR 5.21, CI 1.52–17.87), non-prison food (OR 0.45, CI 0.26–0.79).ConclusionThe prevalence of ocular morbidity among inmates was found to be high and significantly associated with age, trauma and having meals besides prison food. A fully functional eye unit established within the prison, and timely referral of complicated cases would help in offering quality eye services to the inmates.
Highlights
Ocular morbidity has emerged as a major public concern with at least 2.2 billion people having vision impairment or blindness
A fully functional eye unit established within the prison, and timely referral of complicated cases would help in offering quality eye services to the inmates
Almost half of the inmates complained of itchy eyes and reduced vision while only 19 of them had a history of trauma
Summary
Ocular morbidity has emerged as a major public concern with at least 2.2 billion people having vision impairment or blindness. Prisoners (inmates) tend to have limited access to health care especially eye health, and as a result some conditions may go undiagnosed or mismanaged. Eye diseases have emerged as a major public health concern yet eye care still tends to have a low priority rating in most developing countries’ general health care. Ocular morbidity is a widespread term that describes both visually and non-visually impairing eye conditions experienced by a population. Refractive errors and glaucoma are major causes of blindness throughout the world and need early detection and timely referral for management [2]. Many non-visually impairing conditions for example; allergic conjunctivitis, presbyopia and dry eye syndrome can cause distress and result in demand for health services [3]. One study showed that presbyopia and refractive errors have significant impact on the performance of both distant and near vision tasks in rural Tanzania [4]
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