Nutritional amblyopia among tuberculous patients

Abstract

Among eighty Tanganyikan patients with malnutrition associated with active chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, eleven were found to have bilateral pigmentary changes in the macula and amblyopia. Among a control group consisting of 409 patients, only one had similar changes. The possible roles of age, infection, and iatrogeny have been considered and found irrelevant. The evidence suggests that the macular changes and amblyopia are due to malnutrition and solar radiation.