Nearly half of the blindness in the population was due to unavoidable causes (retinal). In addition to providing eye care services, an appropriate service delivery model would include the provision of rehabilitative and low vision services and implementation of genetic studies to understand the causes and increase awareness of inherited eye diseases.
To determine the association of consanguinity with the occurrence of genetically transmitted eye diseases in rural and urban populations in Pavagada and Madhugiri taluks, Karnataka state, south India. This study was part of a population based crosssectional prevalence survey, BThe Pavagada pediatric eye disease study 2.^As a part of the demographic data, trained investigators collected information on consanguinity from the parents of children identified for the study. The children underwent visual acuity measurements and were examined by an ophthalmologist. Children with minor eye diseases were treated and those with major eye diseases were seen by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Eight thousand five hundred and fifty-three children were examined. The prevalence of ocular morbidity was 6.54% and blindness was 0.09%. The percentage of consanguineously married couples in the screened population was 34.33%. Among the blind children, 75% were blind with a disease with potential genetic etiology. Out of that, 66.67% were born out of consanguineous marriage (uncle-niece). Among children with diseases with a potential genetic etiology 54.29% of the children were born out of consanguineous union. Most of these children (71.43%) were born out of uncle-niece marriages. Further analysis showed that consanguineous parents were more likely to have children with disease with a potential genetic etiology as compared to nonconsanguineous parents (odds ratio: 2.551, p = 0.012). It is evident that consanguineous marriages, especially uncle-niece unions are common in the study area. Consanguinity is more likely to result in children with eye diseases with potential genetic etiology.
A major proportion of the blindness was due to unavoidable causes. Unlike several earlier studies, corneal blindness is no longer the main cause of blindness. This shows that there is a changing trend in the pattern of childhood blindness in India. The current data demonstrate the need for low vision rehabilitative services and a review of public health strategy in India.
A BS T R A C T BACKGROUNDDiabetic cranial neuropathies usually involve cranial nerves III, IV and VI causing acute onset of ophthalmoplegia. These result from diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and advanced age. The incidence of cranial nerve palsies in diabetic patients was significantly higher than in non-diabetic patients. We wanted to evaluate the recovery of cranial nerve palsies in relation to the duration and severity of diabetes mellitus and determine the factors associated with diabetes mellitus attributing to the cranial nerve palsies.
METHODS30 patients with diabetes mellitus were enrolled in the study. Detailed medical history was taken and ocular examination was carried out. Degree of ophthalmoplegia, residual muscle deviation, and ocular movements at each visit were recorded. Blood pressure, RBS, HbA1c and lipid profile were recorded.
RESULTSOf the 30 patients, males contributed 53.3% and females contributed 46.7%. 67% patients had sixth cranial nerve palsy and 33% patients had third cranial nerve palsy showing that the most common affected nerve is abducens nerve. The mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 6.8 years, mean RBS level was 236 mg/dL and the mean HbA1c level was 8.3 gm%. Majority of the patients had association of hypertension which accounted for 40% of patients.
CONCLUSIONSThe most commonly affected cranial nerve in our study was abducens nerve. The most common association of diabetes mellitus noticed was hypertension. Majority of cases of ischemic ocular motor nerve palsies showed spontaneous recovery by 3 months with medical treatment and with good control of blood glucose level.
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