The overall incidence rate of registered blindness for Kuwait is less than in many other national registries. The marked prevalence of the male gender in all age subgroups is specific for Kuwait. The rates of the leading causes of registered blindness reflect the prevalence of the younger subgroups in our registry. Additional data on co-morbidity and dedicated efforts to reveal unrecognized and unregistered blindness, particularly among females, will overcome the limitations of the registry, and will serve to outline the tendencies in avoidable vision loss and monitor the efficacy of the prevention programs in the future.
Prevalence of diabetes is rising worldwide. In the course of the last 20 years, blindness and low vision due to diabetic eye complications have increased in large regions in Eastern Europe, North Africa/Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. The magnitude and trends of vision-threatening disease are presented. Systemic risk factors for progression to sight-threatening disease are reviewed. The impact of economic and cultural background on early diagnosis and adherence to treatment is highlighted. Current management of diabetic macular edema, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, neovascular glaucoma, and cataract surgery of diabetic patients is outlined, and its contribution to preventing vision loss is reviewed.
PURPoSE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the incidence and causes of registered blindness and low vision in Eastern Bulgaria.METhoDS: Documentation per each included patient based on archives of the Expert Disability committee was evaluated and divided in two intervals. The cumulative incidence per 100 000 was calculated in 3 severity groups for bilateral and monocular blindness and by residence. RESULTS:The incidence of binocular blindness decreased from 63.79 to 41.61 for males and from 64.21 to 41.14 for females during the second period. Meanwhile, monocular blindness increased from 41.14 to 65.14 for males and from 33.01 to 48.83 for females. It rapidly increases after 60 years of age and is the highest for those over 80. Patients with visual acuity (VA) below 0.05 comprise 40-35%, between 0.06 and 0.1 -22-35%, and 0.15 to 0.3 -38-34%. The proportion and incidence of patients with VA below 0.05 have decreased two times during the second period among residents of cities and remained high -42-48% in the rural population. Severe monocular blindness was significantly higher among males across the whole population. In the age group below 19 years, the leading causes of binocular blindness were retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), congenital glaucoma, microphthalmos and congenital cataract and for monocular impairmenttrauma and amblyopia. For those above 20, the main causes were glaucoma, end-stage diabetic retinopathy, cataract -both with significant reduction in the incidence, AMD and trauma.CoNCLUSIoNS: Systematic evaluation of the deteriorated quality of life and estimation of the cost of vision loss and eye diseases to individuals and their families as well as extended family caregivers and thirdparty payers, the health care system and Bulgarian society is essential in the development of evidence-based interventions that translate research into enhanced clinical and community practice and prevention of unnecessary visual impairment.
A substantial group of patients with diabetic macular edema in our clinical practice is at high risk for profound and irreversible vision deterioration. Early identification of modifiable factors with long-term negative impact and their management, close monitoring and timely adjustments in the treatment can significantly reduce the probability of visual disability in the individual patient. This approach can also provide important guidelines for proactive decision making in order to avoid the risk of suboptimal response and unsatisfactory outcome.
INTRODUCTION: Visual impairments are a serious problem due to the limitations that they impose in everyday life and the loss of independence. AIM OF THE STUDY: To analyze the way the demographic variables (gender, age, place of residence, education, marital status and employment status) affect the quality of life; the way the quality of life changes and which activities are affected by the impairment of the visual functions. MATERIAL AND ETHODS: 54 individuals with proven glaucoma and permanent low vision have been surveyed (assessment criteria of the impairment degree is the correction of the better eye). With a view to do this we used LWQOL Wolffson J S 2000. The questionnaire contains four chapters: demographic, general diseases, ophthalmological status and psychometric section including four dimensions (Distance, mobility and illumination vision; Adaptation; Reading and fine work and Everyday activities). We have determined the reliability of the questionnaire with the help of the Cronbach`s alpha coefficient. RESULTS: The average quality of life score is 81,5±17,4. The quality of life impairs with ageing (94,5±13.6 for individuals above 80 years of age). Although the difference in terms of place of residence is insignificant, the worst quality of life is shown by the village residents (82,8±13,1). For the married individuals a higher quality of life is observed contrary to those who live alone. The lowest quality of life is observed for the individuals who live with their children (87,8±19,7). The low educational degree correlates with a low quality of life. Regarding the employment status the worst indicators are observed for the retired individuals followed by those who have retired due to an illness. The most affected activities are those related to illumination, mobility and fine work. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of life impairment for glaucoma patients is directly associated to the demographic indicators and the visual impairment degree. The low percentage of usage of auxiliary means (7,40%) by the questioned patients shows low motivation and insufficient level of information.
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