Relationship between sociodemographic and clinical factors with visual impairment in patients attended at two ophthalmological institutions of the city of Medellín during 2015

Visual impairment represents a significant challenge on quality of life, generating an increase in the years of life adjusted for disability. Awareness on the associated risk factors allows taking actions to benefit this population, since most causes are preventable, and limitations and restrictions on functioning can be improved with an early diagnosis and functional-comprehensive rehabilitation; it is important to know the social and clinical risks to which this population is exposed. Objective: To determine the relationship between sociodemographic and clinical factors with visual impairment in patients treated at two ophthalmological institutions in Medellín during 2015. Methodology: Cross-sectional, analytical study in a population of 180 patients with some degree of permanent visual impairment, attended at two specialized institutions. Results: In the group of patients with visual impairment, the average age was close to 50 years and the following characteristics predominated: female sex (55.6%), low level of education (50.9%), unemployment (67.9%), alcohol (23.6%), tobacco (15%) and psychoactive substance (4.71%) use; 67.9% had at least one ocular and non-ocular comorbidity, especially diabetes mellitus (7.5%) and arterial hypertension (33.9%). Conclusion: In patients with visual impairment, higher percentages of the mentioned variables were observed compared to patients with visual deficiency but without criteria for visual impairment, suggesting a relationship between these with disability, either as a risk factor or as an outcome. Thus, more studies with a larger population are needed to evaluate statistical significance.