The prevalence and causes of visual impairment in Dariyah, a rural community in Saudi Arabia

African Vision and Eye Health

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The prevalence and causes of visual impairment in Dariyah, a rural community in Saudi Arabia
 
Creator Alghamdi, Waleed Ovenseri-Ogbomo, Godwin O.
 
Subject Medicine; Optometry; Public Health refractive errors; myopia; astigmatism; cataract; vision impairment
Description Background: Visual impairment is disproportionately distributed between rural and urban dwellers. Rural dwellers have limited access to the eye care services that are available in urban cities.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and causes of visual impairment in Dariyah, a rural community in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia.Setting: This research comprised a population-based assessment of the vision and visual status of the inhabitants of Dariyah community.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted amongst the inhabitants of the community of Dariyah. A comprehensive eye examination consisting of visual acuity, ocular health examination, objective and subjective refraction was performed. The examinations were conducted by registered ophthalmologists and optometrists from the Qassim University. Vision impairments were categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Section 9D90, ‘Vision impairment including blindness’ (2018).Results: In all, 68 (24.5%) participants had vision impairment (using the better-seeing eye), with refractive errors being the main cause of vision impairment. Other causes of vision impairment included cataract (20, 7.2%), trichiasis (5, 1.8%) and glaucoma (2, 0.7%). Refractive errors were present in 193 (69.7%), with astigmatism being the commonest refractive error. About 60% of those with refractive errors presented without spectacles for correction, and 20% reported that they had never had an eye examination. Refractive errors could not be determined in 19 (6.9%) of the subjects because of conditions such as matured cataract and other ocular abnormalities.Conclusion: Uncorrected refractive error was found to be the leading cause of vision impairment in this rural community in Saudi Arabia.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor College of Applied Medical Services, Qassim University
Date 2021-07-09
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Observational; cross-sectional
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/aveh.v80i1.579
 
Source African Vision and Eye Health; Vol 80, No 1 (2021); 5 pages 2410-1516 2413-3183
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/579/1597 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/579/1598 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/579/1599 https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/579/1600
 
Coverage Saudi Arabia; Dariyah 2019 Male;female
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Waleed Alghamdi, Godwin Ovenseri-Ogbomo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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