Objective:To evaluate the prevalence and causes of visual impairment (VI) among Saudi adults in Arar City, the capital of Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia.Methods:This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 705 Saudi adults aged 18 years and older. All participants underwent ophthalmic examination including visual acuity (VA) testing, auto refraction, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement and fundus examination.Results:In the present study 166 cases (23.5%) were found to have VI, while only 12 cases (1.7%) were considered as blind following the WHO definitions. Cataract was found to be the main cause of VI [51 cases (30.7%)] followed by refractive error (RE) [41 cases (24.7%)] and diabetic retinopathy (DR) [22 cases (13.2%)]. Seventy one cases of the studied subjects (10.07 %) had shown unilateral VI, while 13 cases (1.8%) had shown unilateral blindness with the other eye normal (VA ≥ 20/20).Conclusion:Visual impairment is highly prevalent among Saudi adults in Arar city. Cataract, refractive error and diabetic retinopathy are the main 3 leading causes. Better plans for diagnosis and treatment should be considered to decrease the magnitude of the problem.

Background & Objectives: Refractive Errors (RE) are responsible for major portion of the treatable visual impairment and avoidable blindness in the world. The prevalence of RE varies with age, gender, ethnicity, geographical locations and also from time to time due to progresse in eye care services. We aimed to study the prevalence of RE and assess their patterns among Saudi adults of Arar city, the capital of Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, population-based study. A total number of 966 Saudi adults aged 16 to 39 years were enrolled. The patterns of their RE were studied through auto-refraction evaluation. Results: The prevalence of RE was 45.8%. The most frequent type of RE was myopia in 24.4%, followed by hyperopia 11.9% and astigmatism in 9.5% cases. Ages and genders significantly affect the prevalence of the different patterns of RE (0.033 and 0.012, respectively). Conclusion: The prevalence of RE in Arar city is slightly lower than that previously published in the same targeted age group. Myopia is the main RE. More awareness programs, especially among young adults are recommended for better outcomes. Abbreviations: RE: Refractive Error, SE: Spherical Equivalent, VA: Visual Acuity, VI: Visual Impairment. How to cite this:Parrey MUR, Elmorsy E. Prevalence and pattern of refractive errors among Saudi adults. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(2):---------.  doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.2.648 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Aim: In this study we aimed to evaluate the pattern of eye diseases (PED) in people attending a government hospital in Arar city of Saudi Arabia. Material and Method: This study was carried out on 1238 people visiting the eye out patient department (OPD) of Arar Central Hospital. Anterior and posterior segment eye examination was done to diagnose the eye diseases and treat them accordingly. Results: A total of 620 (50.1%) males and 618 (49.9%) females were enrolled in the current study whose ages ranged from 6 months to 72 years (39.8±2.9 years). Majority of the patients (95.3%) were Saudi nationals. In this study conjunctivitis was found to be the most common eye disease in 392 (31.7%) cases followed by refractive error, cataract, diabetic retinopathy and strabismus in 259 (20.9%), 183 (14.8%), 99 (8%) and 38 (3.1%) cases respectively. Discussion: The results of this study indicate that men and women are equally interested to seek medical advice for their eye diseases. Strategies should target to reduce the burden of refractive errors, cataract and diabetic retinopathy. Availability of posterior segment subspecialists and pediatric ophthalmologists in the hospital are important for better outcomes of cases with diabetic retinopathy and strabismus.

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