Title: Childhood Blindness and Subnormal Vision- Evaluation and Management at AVBRH – A Rural Hospital Based Study
Authors: Dr Prachee Nagrale, Dr Mala Kamble, Dr Pradeep Sune, Dr Somya Dulani
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v3i12.05
Vision is the most important special sense in human being. Normal vision is essential for normal physical, mental, psychological development and education childhood blindness refers to a group of disease and conditions occurring in childhood which if left untreated results in blindness or severe visual impairment later in life so this study is done to find out prevalence of blindness and subnormal vision in paediatric age group, to evaluate the main site of abnormality leading to visual loss and, to treat and evaluate the prognosis for these visually subnormal or blind children, and to visually rehabilitate children to best possible extent. Total 600 paediatric patients from age group 0-16 years attending eye OPD at AVBH, Sawangi(Meghe), Wardha with complaints of blindness or subnormal vision having visual acuity less than 6/18 were included in this study. Thus we found the cases as contract (Congenital, Developmental, traumatic) 16%,Refractive error 15.33%,Congenital global anamolies (Microphthalmos, Anaphthalmos) 4.99%,Ptosis 11.6%,Corneal disorders (opacity, keratoconus) 10.48%Posterior segment pathologies – 7.29%,Amblyopia 13.33%, Ocular trauma 3%, Idiopathic Nystagmas 3.66%, Xerophthalmia 4.16%,Therefore Preventable causes of blindness can be tackled by vitamin A supplementation, rubella & measles immunization. Treatable causes needs early detection and immediate treatment for improvement of ultimate visual prognosis in cases such as congenital cataract, uncorrected refractive errors, amblyopia, congenital glaucoma. Creating public awareness and screening programms in community and school is essential for early detection and management. Key words: Childhood blindness, early detection, early treatment, awareness programms 1. Lalit Dandona, Clare Gilbert, Jugnoo Rahi, Gullapalli Rao. Planning to reduce childhood blindness in India. I.J.O 1998: 46 ; 117-122. 2. World Health Organization. Global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness. Programme for the Prevention of Blindness and Deafness. Geneva: WHO, 1997 (WHO/PBL/97.61). 3. World Health Organization. Preventing blindness in children: report of WHO/IAPB scientific meeting. Programme for the Prevention of Blindness and Deafness, and International Agency for Prevention of Blindness. Geneva: WHO, 2000 (WHO/PBL/00.77). 4. Gilbert CE, Anderton L, Dandona L, et al. Prevalence of visual impairment in children: a review of the available data. Ophthalmic Epidemiol 1999;6:73–82. 5. Dandona L, Dandona R, Srinivas M, et al. Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2001;42:908–16. 6. Dandona R & Dandona L. refractive error blindness. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation. 2001; 79: 237-243. 7. Murthy GVS, Gupta S, Ellwein LB, et al. refractive error in children in an urban population in New Delhi. Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science. 2002; 43: 623-631. 8. Kalikivayi V, Naduvilath TJ, Bansal AK, Dandona L. Visual impairment in school children in Southern India. Indian J Ophthalmology. 1997; 45:129-134. 9. Yorston D. The global initiative Vision 2020: the right to sight. Childhood blindness. Community eye health, 1999, 12(31):44–5. 10. Aasuri MK, Garg P, Gokhle N, Gupta S. Penetrating keratoplasty inchildren. Cornea 2000;19:140-4. 11. McClellan K, Lai T, Grigg J, Billson F. Penetrating keratoplasty inchildren: visual and graft outcome. Br J Ophthalmol 2003;87:1212-4. 12. World Bank. Investing in health. World development report.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. 13. Hungerford J. Factors influencing metastasis in retinoblastoma. Br J Ophthalmol. Sep 1993;77(9):541. 14. Virgili G, Menchini F, Virgili G. Laser photocoagulation for choroidal neovascularisation in pathologic myopia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005. 19CD004765. 15. Sarrazin L, Averbukh E, Halpert M, Hemo I, Rumelt S. Traumatic paediatric retinal detachment: A comparison between Open and closed globe injuries. Am J Ophthalmol 2004; 137: 1042- 1049. 16. Fivgas GD, Capone A Jr. Paediatric rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Retina. 2001;21 (2):101-6. 17. Daw NW. Critical periods and amblyopia. Arch Ophthalmol. Apr 1998;116 (4):502-5Abstract
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