Prevalence and severity of pterygium among commercial motorcycle riders in south eastern Nigeria

Background: Pterygium is common among outdoor workers who are daily exposed to sunlight and dust due to repeated conjunctival /corneal drying and microtrauma especially in the tropics. Commercial motorcyclists in Nigeria are outdoor workers who spend the greater part of the day outdoors under the intense heat and dust characteristic of this part of the world and would therefore be largely predisposed to developing this conjunctival disorder. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and severity of pterygium among these workers and relate these findings to their duration of work. Methods: A cross sectional study with a multi stage random sampling design was used to choose the 615 subjects enrolled in the study. Results: The prevalence for pterygium was 19.3 (206 eyes) with stage 1 occurring mostly (52) followed by stage 2(46). Pterygium was common among riders who had been riding for 5 years or less. The relationship between duration of riding and pterygium severity was significant (p=0.009). This prevalence was unaffected by the use of regular sun glasses (p=0.188). Conclusion: A strong relationship exists between commercial motorcycle riding and development of pterygium not affected by using regular sunglasses. We recommend that helmets with full face shields and/or proper UV protected riding goggles where the helmets have no face shield be enforced by the regulation bodies so as to reduce the prevalence of these disorders

Prevalence of Pterygium in a Rural Community of District; Southern Ethiopia

Background: Pterygium is principally prevalent in tropical Africa. Though Ethiopia is located in the tropics; the prevalence of pterygium has not been well studied previously. Aim: To determine the prevalence of pterygium among people older than 20 years and its association with age; sex; smoking and exposure to ultraviolet light (UVL) in Meskan District of Gurage zone; Southern Ethiopia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from March 15 to May 15; 2006. Two peasant associations (PA) were randomly selected from the total of 42 in the district. Based on the sampling fraction; every third household in the selected peasant associations was included in the study. All individuals above 20 years of age in the selected households were interviewed and examined for the presence of pterygium. Measurements of pterygium were made with ruler. Visual acuity was taken for those individuals with pterygium and checked with pinhole if found to be less than 6/18. Results: A total of 922 individuals; 400 (43.4) males and 522 (56.6) females; were involved in the study. The mean age was 38.2 ranging from 21-95 years. Pterygium was found in 81 (8.8; 95CI: 7.0;10.6) of the study subjects. For those individuals whose age was above 40 years; the prevalence was found to be 17.4indicating an increased risk with age (p0.001). It also occurred among 50 (12.5) males and 31 (5.9) females and the difference was statistically significant (p0.001). Males have about twice the risk of developing pterygium compared to females. Conclusion: The prevalence of pterygium obtained (8.8) from this study was relatively low compared to many other reports from tropical areas. However; in agreement with other reports; advancing age and males have been identified as risk factors for the development of pterygium. Pterygium was associated with visual impairment in 13.1of cases