Prevalence and risk factors of common blinding ocular diseases among people aged 30 years and above in rural area of Handan

Abstract

Objective: To explore the prevalence and risk factors of common blinding ocular diseases in the population aged 30 years and above in rural areas of Handan City from 2006 to 2012. Methods: A cohort study with 6 830 subjects from rural areas of Handan City, Hebei Province was designed and conducted. The follow-up duration was 6 years, and the prevalence and incidence of common blinding diseases were evaluated. Logistic regression was used to explore the influencing factors of common blinding ocular diseases. Results: In 2006, 6 830 people participated in the baseline survey. There were 3 163 (46.31%) males and 3 667 (53.69%) females. The average age was (52.3±12.2) years (range, 30 to 97 years). There were 3 435 subjects who had common chronic systematic diseases, with a prevalence of 50.29%. In addition, 1 250 people suffered from common blinding ocular diseases, and the prevalence was 18.30%. There were 4 118 subjects without common blinding ocular diseases at baseline who participated in the six-year follow-up, during the 6-year follow-up, 247 participants developed common blinding ocular diseases. 9% (171/1 899) of patients with chronic systematic diseases developed common blinding ocular diseases, while only 3.42% (76/2 219) of normal subjects developed common blinding ocular diseases, with a statistically significant difference (χ(2)=56.504, P<0.001). The incidence of common blinding ocular diseases was age-dependent. Multivariate regression analysis showed that age (OR=1.045, 95%CI: 1.028-1.062, P<0.001), intraoccular pressure (IOP) (OR=1.064, 95% CI: 1.014-1.116, P=0.011) and baseline chronic diseases (OR=1.749, 95% CI: 1.288-2.375, P<0.001) were risk factors for common blinding ocular diseases. Moreover, the contribution of age, IOP and chronic systematic diseases to the model was 0.436, 0.084 and 0.511, respectively. Conclusions: The prevalence of common blinding ocular diseases among people over 30 years old in Handan is relatively high. From 2006 to 2012, about 1.5% patients of chronic systematic diseases developed common blinding ocular diseases each year. Moreover, chronic systematic diseases increase the risk of blinding ocular diseases sharply, and the effect is stronger than age and intraocular pressure.