Prevalence of Childhood Blindness and Ocular Morbidity in a Rural Pediatric Population in Southern India: The Pavagada Pediatric Eye Disease Study-1

Kemmanu, Vasudha; Hegde, Kaushik; Giliyar, Subramanya K.; Shetty, Bhujang; Kumaramanickavel, Govindasamy; McCarty, Catherine A.

doi:10.3109/09286586.2015.1090003

Cited by 50 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…17 Similar studies done on school children by Gupta et al, Sharma et al and Kemmanu et al to assess ocular morbidity showed the prevalence of 31.6%, 4.92% and 2.66% respectively with most common ocular morbidity as refractive error. 3,18,19 In the present study the prevalence of refractive error was 15.8%. However in a study conducted in Saudi Arabia by Al-Rowaily among preschool children, prevalence of refractive error was 8% and it was 4.5% in Badawi et al study which is relatively lower compared to present study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 43%

A cross sectional study to assess prevalence and pattern of ocular morbidity among pre-school children attending anganwadi centres of Hubballi taluk in South India

Godbole

Kavya

Nekar

et al. 2019

Int J Community Med Public Health

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Background: About 30% of blind population of India loses their eyesight before the age of 20 years and many of them are under 5 when they become blind. Childhood blindness will have serious impact on development, education and quality of life. Therefore it is essential that ocular morbidity is detected and treated at an early stage.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 children aged 3-5 years attending 6 anganwadi centres of Hubballi taluk which were selected by stratified random sampling. Data was collected using pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Ocular examination was conducted to identify ocular morbidity. Test for visual acuity, colour blindness and refractive status was done using lea chart, ischihara charts and plusoptix mobile vision screener respectively. Nutrition status was assessed by clinical examination and anthropometry. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS package.Results: Out of 120 children 51.7% were male. Majority, 63.3% were residing in urban area and 40% belonged to class IV of modified B G Prasad classification of socio-economic status scale. The prevalence of ocular morbidity was found to be 20%. 15.8% of children had refractive error, 2.5% had vitamin A deficiency and 1.7% had squint. No statistically significant association was found between ocular morbidity and any risk factors.Conclusions: Refractive error was found to be the most common ocular morbidity among pre-school children. This if detected early can be corrected. Therefore it is important to screen for refractive error at the preschool age itself and to create awareness among parents and anganwadi teachers regarding common ocular symptoms.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 43%

A cross sectional study to assess prevalence and pattern of ocular morbidity among pre-school children attending anganwadi centres of Hubballi taluk in South India

Godbole

Kavya

Nekar

et al. 2019

Int J Community Med Public Health

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“…In countries that have relatively recently moved up from the lower to the middle economic strata, there has been improved survival following premature or complicated birth, with an attendant increase in visual morbidity, due to ROP and CVI 25 26. Of 231 000 children (aged under 16 years) examined as part of a major recent Indian rural population based study, 8 per 10 000 had vision worse than 3/60 (95% CI 40 to 110/10 000) 27. Almost half of the blind children had retinal disorders, the most common being ROP.…”

Section: Trends In the Global Causes Of Childhood Blindnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Almost half of the blind children had retinal disorders, the most common being ROP. Cataract (28%) and globe anomaly (11%) were the next most common blinding disorders 27. Among blind children in regions of Nigeria, 30% were blind due to an event in the perinatal period 25.…”

Section: Trends In the Global Causes Of Childhood Blindnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of blindness in children

2017

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An estimated 14 million of the world's children are blind. A blind child is more likely to live in socioeconomic deprivation, to be more frequently hospitalised during childhood and to die in childhood than a child not living with blindness. This update of a previous review on childhood visual impairment focuses on emerging therapies for children with severe visual disability (severe visual impairment and blindness or SVI/BL).For children in higher income countries, cerebral visual impairment and optic nerve anomalies remain the most common causes of SVI/BL, while retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and cataract are now the most common avoidable causes. The constellation of causes of childhood blindness in lower income settings is shifting from infective and nutritional corneal opacities and congenital anomalies to more resemble the patterns seen in higher income settings. Improvements in maternal and neonatal health and investment in and maintenance of national ophthalmic care infrastructure are the key to reducing the burden of avoidable blindness. New therapeutic targets are emerging for childhood visual disorders, although the safety and efficacy of novel therapies for diseases such as ROP or retinal dystrophies are not yet clear. Population-based epidemiological research, particularly on cerebral visual impairment and optic nerve hypoplasia, is needed in order to improve understanding of risk factors and to inform and support the development of novel therapies for disorders currently considered 'untreatable'.

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“…Population-based data on childhood blindness is available only from a few studies in India and the neighboring countries in South Asia ( Table 1). Estimates of blind children vary from 0.5/1000 children to 1.06/1000 children in India [3,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However the definition of blindness (presenting vision versus best corrected vision), method of collecting data (single stage where all children are examined in the community as against two-stage process where the first vision examination is done in the community and a detailed examination at a base hospital after referral) and the age group covered are not uniform across the studies and therefore comparison of estimates is strictly not warranted.…”

Section: Magnitude In Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnitude and Temporal Trends in Avoidable Blindness in Children (ABC) in India

Murthy

2017

Indian J Pediatr

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The World Health Organization estimates that 19 million children are visually impaired, among whom, 1.4 million are blind. Childhood blindness is an excellent indicator of the state of child health and primary care services in a country. Childhood blindness is important not just due to the number of children blind but also because the number of years that the surviving child has to live with blindness (blind years lived). Childhood blindness is next only to adult cataract in terms of the number of blind person years lived. Under-five mortality rates have been used as a proxy measure to compute the prevalence of childhood blindness in low and middle income countries due to limitations of other methods of data collection. In India, it is estimated that there are 0.8 blind for 1000 children. Whole globe lesions, corneal scarring, retinal pathology and afflictions of the lens are important anatomical sites in children. Causes operating in childhood and hereditary causes are important in etiology of childhood blindness. In 38.2%-68.4% cases across the region, a specific cause of blindness could not be identified in South Asia. The proportion of blindness that can be prevented or treated (avoidable) in children is less than 50%. Therefore a comprehensive eye care system needs to be in place to cater to the needs of children with avoidable and those with incurable blindness. Early detection and prompt management are critical for success of programs targeting avoidable blindness in children.

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Prevalence of Childhood Blindness and Ocular Morbidity in a Rural Pediatric Population in Southern India: The Pavagada Pediatric Eye Disease Study-1

Cited by 50 publications

References 37 publications

A cross sectional study to assess prevalence and pattern of ocular morbidity among pre-school children attending anganwadi centres of Hubballi taluk in South India

A cross sectional study to assess prevalence and pattern of ocular morbidity among pre-school children attending anganwadi centres of Hubballi taluk in South India

Epidemiology of blindness in children

Magnitude and Temporal Trends in Avoidable Blindness in Children (ABC) in India

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