ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In India 66% of blindness among individuals aged 50 yrs and above is attributable to cataract. Cataract has multiple etiologies and many of them are modifiable. But data regarding burden and correlates of cataract among OPD attendees in Northeast India are insufficient. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the proportion of cataract among the attendees of ophthalmology OPD of a teaching hospital of Northeast India and to study the factors associated with it. METHODS: This hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted during 7th February to 6th March 2020, using a pre-tested structured interview schedule, among 330 adults attending ophthalmology OPD of Agartala Government Medical College, chosen by consecutive sampling. RESULT: Proportion of cataract among the attendees was 36.7% and it was 51.5% among the subjects aged ≥50 years. Age, family type, literacy, diabetes mellitus and hypertension had significant associations with cataract (P < 0.05). Logistic regression model has identified age ≥ 50 yrs (OR: 5.57, 95% CI: 2.98-10.43) and illiteracy (OR: 2.67, 95% CI: 1.55-4.59) as the significant predictors for developing cataract (P < 0.05) in the study population. CONCLUSION: Proportion of cataract among OPD attendees is 36.7%, which is higher than the community prevalence of cataract in Tripura. Promoting literacy, reducing family size, blood sugar and blood pressure may bring down the proportion of cataract in this population.
ABSTRACT
Background: In India, about 50% of all childhood blindness is either preventable or treatable. Hence, controlling childhood blindness may be an effective way to reduce blindness in this country in the long run. Strategies to combat childhood blindness require accurate data regarding its magnitude, distribution, and determinants in a population. In this regard, district disability rehabilitation centres (DDRC) are working in India to diagnose and rehabilitate the subjects with blindness of various degrees. Objectives: The objectives of the study are to estimate the proportion of childhood blindness among the visually challenged subjects registered under the DDRC of West Tripura district, to find out the different ocular morbidities in this population and to study the factors associated with these disabilities. Materials and Methods: This facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from 2,260 visually challenged subjects enlisted in the DDRC of West Tripura district of India from June 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020. Results: The proportion of childhood blindness was found to be 3.89% (88) among the visually challenged subjects catered by the DDRC of West Tripura district. About 68.18% of the study subjects belonged to the lower socio-economic class as per BG Prasad's socio-economic classification, 39.77% subjects had 30% blindness and 15.90% subjects had 100% blindness. Among these 88 cases (134 eyes) of blindness, 20.14% were refractive error, 7.50% corneal opacities, 12.68% phthisis bulbi, 3.73% congenital cataract and pseudophakia, 2.98% congenital glaucoma, 23.88% congenital globe anomalies, 8.20% retinal diseases, 11.94% nystagmus and 8.95% were due to miscellaneous causes. Conclusion: Childhood blindness is still a public health problem in this part of India. Congenital globe anomalies were found to be the commonest cause followed by refractive errors.
