Burden of ocular morbidities and color blindness among school-attending children in a foothill town of Uttarakhand State.

PURPOSE: To estimate prevalence of common ocular morbidities including color blindness among school-attending children of an urban foothill town of Uttarakhand State in Northern India. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among school-going children of age group 6-16 years of standard I-XII. Schools were selected using population proportionate to the size sampling technique. Detailed ocular examination including color vision and unaided or aided visual acuity for various ocular morbidities was done. Data was entered into MS excel with statistical analysis using SPSS version 23 with significant P value <0.05. RESULTS: In total, 13,492 students (mean age 10.9 ± 2.7 years) with almost equal male to female ratio were screened. Overall prevalence of ocular morbidity was 23.2%, with refractive error (18.5%) on top, followed by color blindness (2.2%). The later was observed more among males (3.0%) as compared to females (1.4%) with significantly higher odds, OR = 2.3 (1.7-2.9) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Refractive error has been the most common ocular morbidity, followed by color blindness. Earliest detection can prevent permanent disability and disappointment among youngsters when rejected from entering certain professions due to color vision defect.

Optical coherence tomography angiography-guided diagnosis of a traumatic choroidal rupture-associated choroidal neovasular membrane and its management with intravitreal ranibizumab.

A 25-year-old female presented with sudden onset diminution of vision in the right eye (oculus dextrus [OD]) following blunt trauma after a sports injury. Ocular examination revealed best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20/30 in OD and fundus revealed commotio retinae, localized preretinal bleed, and a large choroidal rupture (CR). She was managed conservatively at that moment. Three months following trauma, she returned with further deterioration of BCVA (20/80) in OD. Optical coherence tomography angiogram (OCTA) confirmed the presence of choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM). She was treated with single intravitreal ranibizumab injection. Repeat OCTA after 6 weeks showed the regression of CNVM. Her BCVA improved to 20/30 at 6 months of follow-up. In the index report, we present a unique OCTA guided the diagnosis of posttraumatic CR-associated CNVM and its successful management with single intravitreal ranibizumab.

"Pattern of ocular morbidities among pilgrims attending religious mega festive event-'Kumbh Mela 2019' at Prayagraj, India".

BACKGROUND: Globally, ocular morbidities are one of the most underdiagnosed, underreported, and undertreated public health concern. Among estimated 39 billion blind in world, India shares major proportions, with majority of them living in rural population. In India, religious festivals like Kumbh Mela that involve mass gatherings are mainly attended by middle and elderly population who are usually susceptible to various ocular diseases. Therefore, we analyzed the data of our eye camp to document pattern and magnitude of ocular morbidities among pilgrims attending a mega religious festive event. METHODS: In a cross-sectional, descriptive study, we included all those patients who participated in a mega eye camp "Netrakumbh" from January to March 2019 at Kumbh Mela, Prayagraj, India and were attended by voluntary ophthalmologist from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh. Presenting chief complaints and detailed history were collected from all participants. All patients underwent comprehensive eye examination including visual acuity, slit lamp biomicroscopic examination, tonometry, etc., Data were compiled and analyzed utilizing SPSS 22.0. RESULTS: A total of 47142 eyes of 23571 persons of all age groups (range 5 years to 70 years) with approximate equal gender distribution attending the mega eye camp were examined. The most common ocular morbidity noticed after ocular examination was refractive error with underlying cause majorly as presbyopia, followed by cataract, after cataract, convergence insufficiency, lids, and adnexal disease, etc. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the changing pattern of common ocular morbidities presently among middle and elderly populations in developing countries like India.