Pattern of eye diseases among participants of free eye screening program in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Vision screening can help discover some problems hitherto unknown to the patient but it is also a fact that many other disease conditions may also be missed during screening depending on the qualification and skill of those carrying out the test and the available instruments for screening. Eye diseases differ from country to country and even within the same country from community to community and knoweledge of the disease pattern in a given environment is critical for planning of appropraite intervention programs.Methods: Free eye health intervention program was carried out and patients were inially screened by optometrists and ophthalmic nurses for cataract, presbyopia and other minor ophthalmic problems. Patients that had other problems including complicated cataract were referred for further consultation with the ophthalmologists in the field..Results: Of the 547 who were further screened by the ophthalmologists in the field 243 (44.4%) were males and 304 (55.6%) were females with male to female ratio of 1: 1.25. The age range was 1-87 years. The mean(SD) age was 51.27years, median 53years, and mode was 60 years. Cataract and its related problem was the commonest condition139(25.4%), followed by glaucoma 78(14.3%). Age related macular degeneration(AMD) was the commonest posterior segment finding 27(4.9%)  while corneal opacity 11(2.0%) was the commonest anterior segment finding and 19(3.5%) were bilaterally blind.Conclusions: The eye health indices of the people as shown by the disease prevalence and the number of those bilaterally blind are still very poor.