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Purpose: To assess the prevalence of ocular morbidities and associated factors among hearing-impaired (HI) students at the Embangweni School for the Deaf in Mzimba, Malawi. Methods: This was an institutional cross-sectional study of HI students at Embangweni School for the Deaf. A series of optometric and audiometric tests was performed, and the results were exported to the Statistical Package for Social Science for statistical analysis (SPSS) version 25. Pearson's chi-square test was used to assess correlations and associations between variables. A P-value less significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 147 children comprising of 76 (51.7%) males and 71 (48.3%) females participated in this study. The prevalence of ocular conditions and visual impairment was 39 (26.5%) and 2 (1.4%), respectively. The Prevalence of eye disease was significantly associated with male sex (p=0.02) and type of HI (p=0.031). Allergic conjunctivitis 36 (24.5%) was the most common ocular condition, followed by refractive error 28 (19%). Conclusion: The prevalence of ocular conditions among HI students was significant and associated with sex. Regular school vision screening of students with HI is highly advised to reduce the burden of visual impairment.
Hearing impairment places a great burden on the sufferers. Ocular conditions among this population further disadvantages them in terms of education and personal development. The current study evaluated the prevalence of ocular conditions among school children at the Embangweni School of the Deaf. We observed that there is high prevalence of eye conditions among this population which was more prevalent among the males. Conjunctivitis was the most prevalent ocular condition. There is a great need for regular vision screening for this population for early detection and management of ocular conditions among them.
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Background: The limited accessibility of in-person optometry services during the coronavirus disease 2019 highlighted the need for teleoptometry but no data exists to substantiate the foregoing in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). The study assessed the knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP) of optometrists toward teleoptometry in T&T. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized a convenient sampling technique to administer a structured, web-based survey to all registered optometrists in T&T between March and June 2021. Information on demographics and KAP of teleoptometry were collected. Descriptive statistics (mean, percentages, and standard deviations) were used to describe the characteristics of respondents. The mean scores for the main outcomes (KAP) were compared between the categorical groups of the demographic variables, using a one-way analysis of variance. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of the 116 registered optometrists in T&T, 63 responded to the survey (response rate, 54.3%), and were mostly women (44, 69.8%), aged 21-30 years (42, 66.7%), worked in urban regions (41, 65.1%), and half of them (32, 50.8%) had practiced optometry for five or more years. More than two-thirds of the optometrists (76.4%) reported that they had never provided teleoptometry services, and only a few (2, 3.2%) had training on teleoptometry. The percentage mean scores for knowledge were significantly lower than attitude (38.5 ± 17.9% vs 78.2 ± 29.9%; P = 0.002) and perception (46.2 ± 11.4%; P < 0.001) scores, all of which were significantly lower among self-employed than employed optometrists (P < 0.02, for all three variables). While men and non-professional computer users had higher mean scores for attitude than women (3.03 [95%CI: 2.14, 3.93] vs 2.31 [95%CI: 1.41, 3.21], P = 0.037) and professional users (3.15 [95%CI: 2.07, 4.24] vs 2.18 [95%CI: 1.12, 3.24], P = 0.001), knowledge and perception scores varied significantly with practitioners' years of experience (P = 0.042) and age (P = 0.041), respectively. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that although there was limited knowledge of teleoptometry among the participants, particularly the self-employed and the less experienced optometrists, most of them had good attitudes and perceptions toward teleoptometry. To fill the identified knowledge gap, there is a need for teleoptometry training among optometrists in T&T.
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Background: Visual impairment (VI) is a public health problem that can affect an individual's social wellbeing. The study aims to determine the distribution and causes of vision impairment (VI) and blindness among patients at Nigerian Army Eye Centre Lagos, Nigeria. Method: An institutional cross-sectional study was conducted, and a systematic random sampling technique was used to enrol study participants from their medical records. Information about their demography, presenting visual acuity (VA), best corrected visual acuity and cause of VI and blindness, were retrieved. Result: A total of five hundred (500) medical records of patients aged from 4 to 96 years, with a mean age of 54.07 ± 21.43 years, were considered for the study. Among the participants, more than half were males (51.2%) and ≥60 years (53.0%). A large (47.2%) proportion of the patients had moderate VI at the time of presentation, followed by blindness (22.0%). The major cause of blindness was cataract, while glaucoma and refractive error were the major causes of VI. Blindness and VI were significantly associated with the type of VI before and after the provision of intervention (p < 0.05) across different age groups (children, youths, adults, elderly) with an adjusted p < 0.003 after an intervention. Conclusions: Cataracts, glaucoma and uncorrected refractive error (URE) were the major causes of VI and blindness in Lagos State. VI was more prevalent in males than females; however, there was no significant difference between the two proportions. The prevalence of VI among age groups was more significant for those 60 years and above. Early screening for the detection and management of cataract, URE and glaucoma is highly advised to reduce the burden of VI.
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The study assessed the contact lens prescribing patterns and associated factors in a university optometry clinic in Trinidad and Tobago. The data relating to habitual or new contact lens (CL) prescribing patterns among wearers over a two-year period were reviewed. Pearson's chi-squared test and logistic regression models were used to analyze the findings. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test was used to examine the model calibration. A total of 243 CL fits were analyzed, and the Homeshow-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test indicated a good fit (χ2 (7) = 7.296, p = 0.399). The mean age of lens wearers was 29.6 ± 12.4 (mean ± SD); the majority, 155 (63.8 %) of whom, were 21 to 40 years old. Most lenses were fitted on females (64.2% of fits overall) and about half of the wearers (n = 122, 50.2%) were prescribed lenses for cosmetic purposes. Conventional soft CL were the most prescribed modality of wear, accounting for 129 (53.1%) of the fits. Age from 21 to 40 years was the predictor of lens type prescribed, and those in that age range were four times more likely to be prescribed soft lenses compared to other ages. The patterns of CL prescribing in a university optometry clinic in Trinidad and Tobago are similar to the global market trends with slight variations.