Abstract
Purpose :
To report annual point prevalence and incidence of visual impairment in an acute adult stroke population.
Methods :
A prospective, epidemiology study was conducted from 1.6.14 to 30.6.15 across 3 stroke units. All stroke admissions were identified by the stroke research nurses. Deaths were coded. The orthoptic research team assessed all remaining patients on the stroke unit. Patients who could not be assessed were coded for reasons why. The remaining patients had standard clinical assessment of visual acuity, visual fields, ocular alignment, ocular motility, visual inattention and visual perception.
Results :
There were 51% males and 49% females with mean age of 73.4 (SD 13.8) years. 1291 patients were recruited: 99 died before full assessment and 169 could never be assessed. Overall 1023 patients were assessed with diagnosis. Over half were assessed at baseline. 622 could not be assessed at baseline and were subsequently reviewed. 959 underwent full visual assessment at a mean of 19.4 days. 279/1023 (28%) had normal eye exams. 744/1023 (72%) had visual impairment: 55.8% with impaired central vision, 41.7% with eye movement abnormalities, 28% with visual field loss, 27.2% with visual inattention and 4.3% with visual perceptual disorders. 75/1023 (7.3%) had visual impairment due to pre-existent causes.
Conclusions :
The point prevalence of post-stroke visual impairment in acute adult stroke survivors undertaking visual assessment is 73% with incidence of stroke-related visual impairment being 65.4%. This is higher than previous reports, and highlights the need for integration of visual assessment as a core post-stroke assessment. Full visual assessment possible for most stroke survivors by 4 days. Thus early visual assessment is feasible and important in that information can be provided on visual status and the functional significance of this to the stroke team, patients and carers.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.