A study On the Prevalence of the causes of low vision in patients referring to and examined in low-vision clinic of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shahid Beheshti Medical University

Document Type : Original article

Authors

1 Dept. of Optometry, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences. Shahid beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor of Ophthalmology. Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences. Shahid beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (corresponding author)

3 Ophthalmologist. Shadeh University, Tehran, Iran

4 MSc in Biostatistics, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences. Shahid beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Aim: The goal of this study is to investigate the severity of visual acuity loss and the causes of low vision as well as the association between the severity of visual acuity loss and the type of low vision aid prescribed
 
Material & Methods: In this retrospective cross- sectional study, 204 files of the patients referred to the Low Vision Center of the College of Rehabilitation, between 2007 to 2008, were analyzed.  Data about their visual acuity, causes of low vision, and visual aid prescribed for them were collected. SPSS 17 was used to analyze the data.
 
Results: The prevalence of different levels of visual acuity loss was as follow: moderate (40.7%), severe (45.6%), and very severe (13.7%). Twenty five types of diseases were identified with the following prevalence: Diabetic Retinopathy 16.2%, Age related macular degeneration 14.2%, Stargart 12.3%, Retinitis Pigmentosa 10.8%, and Albinism 8.2%.
 
Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and ARMD, preventive measures should be taken to reduce these causes of Low vision. Microscope is the most prescribed vision aid for three groups of vision loss.  The preference of the Iranian patients for using this vision aid could be due to its more casual appearance and ease of use.

Keywords

References

  1. Scheiman Mi, Scheiman Ma, Whittaker S.G. Low Vision Rehabilitation: A practical guide for occupational therapists. New York: SLACK Incorporated;2007: 55-72.
  2. Jackson AJ, Wolffsohn JS, Bailey IL. Low Vision Manual. Philadelphia: Butterworth Heinemann publisher, 2007; 12-18.
  3. Eleanor E. F. Clinical Low Vision. 2nd ed .New York: Little Brown Company; 1984: 257-324.
  4. Kuhn F, Pieramici DJ. Ocular Trauma: Principles and Practice.Thieme; 2002:29.
  5.  Ryan SE, Sladyk K. Ryan's Occupational Therapy Assistant: Principles, Practice Issues, and Techniques.  Slack Incorporated; 2005:351.
  6. Brilliant RL. Essentials of Low Vision Practice. Butterworth Heinemann; 1999:79-105.
  7. McNaughton J. Low Vision assessment. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2005; 22-29.
  8. Ghassemi-BroumandM, Amiri Z. Determination of visual status of Iranian
    veterans 17-25 years after injury; Pak J Med Sci 2008 24 (5):  673-677.
  9. Ghassemi-BroumandM, Akhgary M. Gide for low vision aids prescription. Tehran: Hsian Publisher; 2008:6. [In Persian].

10. Alfred A, Rosen bloom Jr. Rosenmloom & Morgan Vision and Aging. New York: Butterworth Heinemann publisher, 2007; 32-35.

11. Houde SC. Vision Loss in Older Adults. New York: Springer Publisher Company, 2007; 7-11.

12. Meloer GG .Treating Vision Problem in the Older Adult. New York: Mosby, 1997; 23 - 40.

13. Nowakowski RW. Primary low vision care .NewYork: Appleton & Lange; 1994:11.

14. Lee DA, Higginbotham EJ. Clinical guide to comprehensive ophthalmology. New York: Thieme; 1999:303.

15. Wong TY, Chong EW, Wong WL et al. Prevalence and Causes of Low Vision and Blindness in an Urban Malay Population. The Singapore Malay Eye Study. ArchOphthalmol.2008; 126(8): 1091-1099.

16. Klaver CCW, Wolfs RCW, Vingerling JR et al. Age-Specific Prevalence and Causes of Blindness and Visual Impairment in an Older. Population. The Rotterdam Study.Arch Ophthalmol. 1998; 116(5):653-658.

17. Liang YB, Friedman DS, Wong TY et al. Prevalence and Causes of Low Vision and Blindness in a Rural Chinese Adult Population. Ophthalmology. 2008; 115(11): 1965-1972.

18. Grosvenor T. Primary care optometry- Order by: relevance | pagesrelevance | pages. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann publisher, 2007; 34-43.

19. Jadoon MZ, Dineen B, Bourne RRA.  Prevalence of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Pakistan: The Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2006 47 (11) 4749-4755.

The Scientific Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Volume 1, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
September and October 2012
Pages 9-14

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 14 July 2011
  • Revise Date: 22 November 2011
  • Accept Date: 20 May 2012
  • First Publish Date: 22 September 2012

Share

How to cite

Statistics