ABSTRACT
Background: Globally there are 45 million people blind, 90% of these live in developing countries and more than 80% blindness is preventable or curable. In south-east asia, cataract is the single most common cause of blindness being responsible for 50-80% of all blindness. In India, 62.6% blindness is due to cataract. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of cataract blindness among rural population of more than 50 years of age in study area. To know the factors associated with cataract blindness. Materials & Methods: Using multistage cluster random sampling method, out of 5 commune panchayats in Puducherry district, Bahour commune panchayat was selected as primary sampling unit. Thereafter Seliamedu panchayat was selected out of 15 panchayats under the Bahour commune panchayat administrative area. House to house blindness survey was done in Seliamedu (all 5 villages). A person with vision less than 6/60 was considered as blind. Illumination was done to see the degenerative changes in lens, iris shadow. Results: Total 7410 population was covered, in which 11.6% were found eligible for the study. The calculated prevalence of cataract blindness was 10.8%. Increasing age, illiteracy, working status was associated with occurrence of cataract. Conclusion: Further detailed studies are needed to see the actual burden of blindness due to various causes in community for effective planning and to attain the global objective of vision 2020.