Etiology Of Visual Impairment And Blindness And Demographic Profile Of Affected Individuals

ABSTRACT

Eye diseases and low vision are the most significant health and socioeconomic risks in developing countries like India. Globally, 253 million people are visually impaired, of these 36 million are blind and 217 million have moderate to severe visual impairment. With population growth and increasing life expectancy, the magnitude of blindness is expected to increase further.Objectives: To study the demographic profile of individuals with visual impairment and blindness and its causes in adults aged 50 years and abovein a district of Central India.Material and methods: Cluster sampling was employed from November2015to November 2017to randomly select 3000 individuals aged 50 years or more in 30 clusters from a district of Central India. Demographic details of individuals were noted. Visual assessment was done using