Abstract
Purpose :
to present the magnitude and determinants of bilateral blindness and severe visual impairment (VI) in southwestern region of São Paulo state, Brazil. This data is crucial for proper planning and for monitoring the progress of ‘VISION 2020 global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness in all member countries.
Methods :
a convenience sampling cross-sectional survey targeted people of all ages in 10 districts in the southwest region of São Paulo state, Brazil in 2013-14. The population was evaluated using a mobile ophthalmic unit and ophthalmologists performed complete eye examination. The World Health Organization recommended criteria for vision grading was used. The age-sex adjusted prevalence and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated, estimating the number of visually disabled persons.
Results :
we examined 2,306 participants. The age-sex adjusted prevalence of bilateral blindness was 0.23% (95% CI: 0.1 to 0.4). Females (0.35%) and patients 50 years and older (0.57%) had higher prevalence of blindness compared to males and other age-groups. The prevalence of bilateral severe VI was 9.7% (95% CI: 8.8 to 10.6). There were more males with severe VI (11.6%), younger than10 years (15.9%) and older than 50 years (12.3%). Estimates indicated 880 people with bilateral severe VI in the study area. Cataract and refractive error contributed to 64% and 22% of bilateral severe VI respectively.
Conclusions :
visual impairment in the studied study population was low and mainly due to cataract and refractive errors. Health care organizations should increase initiatives related to the prevention of avoidable blindness.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.