Changing trends in the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in a rural district of India: Systematic observations over a decade.
Indian J Ophthalmol
;
2012 Sept-Oct; 60(5): 492-497
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-144907
ABSTRACT
Context Globally, limited data are available on changing trends of blindness from a single region. Aims:
To report the changing trends in the prevalence of blindness, visual impairment (VI), and visual outcomes of cataract surgery in a rural district of Andhra Pradesh, India, over period of one decade. Settings andDesign:
Rural setting; cross-sectional study. Materials andMethods:
Using a validated Rapid Assessment of Cataract Surgical Services (RACSS) method, population-based, cross-sectional survey was done in a rural district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Two-stage sampling procedure was used to select participants ≥50 years of age. Further, a comparative analysis was done with participants ≥50 years from the previously concluded Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) study, who belonged to the same district. StatisticalAnalysis:
Done using 11th version of Stata.Results:
Using RACSS, 2160/2300 (93.9%) participants were examined as compared with the APEDS dataset (n=521). Age and sex adjusted prevalence of blindness in RACSS and APEDS was 8% (95% CI, 6.9–9.1%) and 11% (95% CI, 8.3–13.7%), while that of VI was 13.6% (95% CI, 12.2–15.1%) and 40.3% (95% CI, 36.1–44.5%), respectively. Cataract was the major cause of blindness in both the studies. There was a significant reduction in blindness following cataract surgery as observed through RACSS (17.3%; 95% CI, 13.5–21.8%) compared with APEDS (34%; 95% CI, 20.9–49.3%).Conclusion:
There was a significant reduction in prevalence of blindness and VI in this rural district of India over a decade.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Rural Population
/
Vision Disorders
/
Humans
/
Cataract Extraction
/
Blindness
/
Prevalence
/
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
/
India
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prevalence study
/
Risk factors
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Indian J Ophthalmol
Year:
2012
Type:
Article
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