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Prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision among adults in Fiji
Author(s) -
Ramke Jacqueline,
Brian Garry,
Maher Louise,
Qalo Qoqonokana Mundi,
Szetu John
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clinical and experimental ophthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.3
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1442-9071
pISSN - 1442-6404
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9071.2011.02749.x
Subject(s) - medicine , optometry , blindness , ophthalmology
A bstract Background: To estimate the prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision among adults aged ≥40 years in Fiji. Design: Population‐based cross‐sectional study. Participants: Adults aged ≥40 years in Viti Levu, Fiji. Method: A population‐based cross‐sectional survey used multistage cluster random sampling to identify 34 clusters of 40 people. A cause of vision loss was determined for each eye with presenting vision worse than 6/18. Main Outcome Measures: Blindness (better eye presenting vision worse than 6/60), low vision (better eye presenting vision worse than 6/18, but 6/60 or better). Results: Of 1892 people enumerated, 1381 participated (73.0%). Adjusting sample data for ethnicity, gender, age and domicile, the prevalence of blindness was 2.6% (95% confidence interval 1.7, 3.4) and low vision was 7.2% (95% confidence interval 5.9, 8.6) among adults aged ≥40 years. On multivariate analysis, being ≥70 years was a risk factor for blindness, but ethnicity, gender and urban/rural domicile were not. Being Indo‐Fijian, female and older were risk factors for vision impairment (better eye presenting vision worse than 6/18). Cataract was the most common cause of bilateral blindness (71.1%). Among participants with low vision, uncorrected refractive error caused 63.3% and cataract was responsible for 25.0%. Conclusion: Strategies that provide accessible cataract and refractive error services producing good quality outcomes will likely have the greatest impact on reducing vision impairment.