Prevalence of blindness in people over 40 years in the Volta region of Ghana

Abstract

In 2001, we conducted a population-based cluster survey of the prevalence of blindness and glaucoma in three districts of the Volta region of Ghana, West Africa. A secondary purpose was to assess the presenting visual acuities of individuals who had undergone extracapsular cataract extraction with an intraocular lens implant (ECCE/IOL) and intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE). The target population consisted of 2400 adults, aged 40 years and older, of whom, 2298 (95.7%) were examined. The prevalence of moderate to severe bilateral blindness was found to be 4.4 %. The main causes of blindness were cataract and glaucoma (53.9% and 20.6%, respectively). Eighty-one percent of the blind had preventable or treatable causes. Nine percent of the population >/=40 years needed cataract surgery in one or both eyes for vision