RESUMO
Background: Konkan coast of India is geographically distinct and its pattern of blindness has never been mapped. Aim: To study the prevalence and causes of blindness and cataract surgical services in Sindhudurg district of West Coast. Subjects: Individual aged > 50 years. Materials and Methods: Rapid assessment of avoidable blindness used to map blindness pattern in the district. Statistical analysis: SPSS version 19. Results: Amongst those examined 1415 (51.7%) had visual acuity (VA) >20/60, 924 (33.8%, confidence interval (C.I) 30.5%‑36.8%) had VA 20/200‑<20/60(visual impairment), 266 (9.7%, C.I. 6.1%‑13.3%) had VA < 20/200‑20/400 (severe visual impairment) and 132 (4.8%, C. I. 1.1%‑8.5%) had VA < 20/400 (blindness by WHO standards). There was no significant gender difference in prevalence of blindness, but blindness and visual impairment was more in older and rural residing individuals. Amongst those with presenting vision < 20/200 in better eye, 309 (82.4%) had cataract, 36 (9.7%) had corneal scars, 13 (3.5%) had diabetic retinopathyand 3 (0.8%) had glaucoma. Cataract surgical coverage for the district was only 30.5%; 32% for males and 28.4% for females. Unable to afford, lack of knowledge and lack of access to services were the commonest barriers responsible for cataract patients not seeking care. Amongst those who had undergone cataract surgery, only 50% had visual acuity ≥ 20/60.46.9% of the population had spectacles for near, but only 53.3% of the population had presenting near vision < N10. Conclusion: Cataract, refractive errors and diabetes were significant causes of visual impairment and blindness.
RESUMO
Aim: To study long term outcome of bilateral congenital and developmental cataract surgery. Subjects: 258 pediatric cataract operated eyes of 129 children. Materials and Methods: Children who underwent pediatric cataract surgery in 2004‑8 were traced and examined prospectively in 2010‑11. Demographic and clinical factors were noted from retrospective chart readings. All children underwent visual acuity estimation and comprehensive ocular examination in a standardized manner. L. V. Prasad Child Vision Function scores (LVP‑CVF) were noted for before and after surgery. Statistics: Statistical analysis was done with SPSS version 16 including multi‑variate analysis. Results: Children aged 9.1 years (std dev 4.6, range 7 weeks‑15 years) at the time of surgery. 74/129 (57.4%) were boys. The average duration of follow‑up was 4.4 years (stddev 1.6, range 3‑8 years). 177 (68.6%) eyes had vision <3/60 before surgery, while 109 (42.2%) had best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) >6/18 and 157 (60.9%) had BCVA >6/60 3‑8 years after surgery. 48 (37.2%) had binocular stereoacuity <480 sec of arc by TNO test. Visual outcome depended on type of cataract (P = 0.004), type of cataract surgery (P < 0.001), type of intra‑ocular lens (P = 0.05), age at surgery (P = 0.004), absence of post‑operative uveitis (P = 0.01) and pre‑operative vision (P < 0.001), but did not depend on delay (0.612) between diagnosis and surgery. There was a statistically significant improvement for all the 20 questions of the LVP‑CVF scale (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Pediatric cataract surgery improved the children’s visual acuity, stereo acuity and vision function. Developmental cataract, use of phacoemulsification, older children and those with better pre‑operative vision had betterlong‑termoutcomes.