Prevalence of Ocular Morbidity in Kashmiri Population Attending Tertiary Eye Care Center

Abstract

Background: The Prevalence of blindness is reported to be very high (2% and above) in J & K with cataract being the leading cause of blindness. Others are uncorrected refractive errors, childhood blindness, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy. Since major burden of blindness is due to preventable causes, early detection and treatment of ocular morbidity is very important in all the age groups. Therefore we took up the present student with an aim to find out the prevalence of ocular morbidity (irrespective of the age) in Kashmiri population attending a tertiary eye care center. Materials & Methods: This is a hospital based cross sectional study which was conducted at Al Kabir Eye care center, Srinagar, J&K after approval from institutional ethical committee. The data was collected over a period of 2 years (2017 and 2018) from 4595 patients who was then analyzed to find out the prevalence of various ocular morbidities and was expressed in percentage. Detailed ophthalmological examination was done by experienced and qualified ophthalmologists. Results: Our study shows that the most Prevalent ocular morbidity in the study group was cataract (30%) followed by refractive errors (21%), diabetic retinopathy (17%), glaucoma (15%), childhood diseases (13%),squint (3 %) and corneal blindness( 1 %). Conclusion: High prevalence of ocular morbidity calls for early screening of the population and creating awareness among them. Since most of the causes of ocular morbidity are preventable therefore educating the masses regarding healthy eye care practices, periodic eye checkups, importance of vitamin A in the diet, availability of subsidized cataract surgeries and other eye care services is important.