Profile of a low vision clinic population

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Causes of low vision and types of low vision devices (LVDs) prescribed in other low vision clinics have been studied extensively. Similar studies have not been conducted in Malaysia. This paper reports the results of a retrospective study of 573 patients seen at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia-Malaysian Association for the Blind (UKM-MAB) low vision clinic in Kuala Lumpur. METHODS: The record cards of 573 patients seen at the UKM-MAB clinic over 10 years were examined and the following information extracted: date of first consultation, age, sex, cause of visual impairment as diagnosed by an ophthalmologist and types of low vision devices (LVDs) prescribed. RESULTS: The majority of patients were from the younger age groups with 423 (73.8 per cent) less than 50 years of age. Three hundred and ninety-five (68.9 per cent) of the subjects were males and 178 (31.1 per cent) female. The main causes of low vision were congenital structural defects including nystagmus among patients in the zero to 29 years age group, retinitis pigmentosa among the 30 to 59 years age group and age-related macular degeneration (ARM) among those over 60 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: Since the majority of the patients were from the younger age group the main causes of low vision were congenital and hereditary diseases. Three hundred and forty-one (59.5 per cent) patients seen at the low vision clinic accepted the use of LVDs.

Study profile of patients of Bundelkhand region Presenting with low vision

“…This depiction of ayounger population is similar to findings from Malaysia [14], Korea [6], Nepal [15], and India [16] in which theproportion of patients aged below 50 years were 74%,69%, 58% and 68% respectively. In these developingcountries, the proportion of low vision patients aged60 years and above ranged between 16% and 26%.On the other hand, in studies from developed countries,Leat and Rumney [17] (United Kingdom) found77% of their patients to be aged 60 years and above; Elliotet al [11] (Canada) reported that 66% of patientswere 70 years or older; while in Australia, Wolffsohnand Cochrane [12] observed that 87% of patients wereaged 60 years and above.…”

“…Thesmall sample size of our study may account for this difference.It is thus necessary to educate eyecare providers and glaucoma patients about the availableoptions of low vision assessment and low visual aids.Contrary to the previous report by Richard [23] inwhich cataract was the most common cause of low vision,cataract was not present in our study as were not included .The major causes of low vision within the different agegroups as shown in Figure 1 are quite similar to otherreports [12,14]. As expected, congenital and heritable conditionswere more common in children, while age relateddiseases were predominant in the elderly patients.…”

“…Majority of our patients considered their problemswith near and distance vision to be of equal importance.However, elderly patients were more likely to deem nearvision as being their major problem; while children hada tendency to judge distance vision as more important.This observation perhaps portrays the additional effectof presbyopia on low vision in the elderly, although itmay also signify that the elderly have a greater likelihoodof central visual loss from macular disease.Posterior segment disease accounted for the majorityof causes of low vision in this study. This correlates withfindings of most low vision clinic studies [6,11,12,[14][15][16][17].In our study,the commonestcause was ARMD which is similar to some previous reports who found age related macular degeneration (ARMD) to bethe commonest cause [11,12,17,18].Besides, there are other reports,specifically from developing countries, in which ARMDwas also not the commonest cause [6,[14][15][16]. Possiblereasons for lower prevalence of ARMD in developingcountries may include nutritional factors, less cigarettesmoking, and lower body mass index (BMI) [21].…”

“…In these developingcountries, the proportion of low vision patients aged60 years and above ranged between 16% and 26%.On the other hand, in studies from developed countries,Leat and Rumney [17] (United Kingdom) found77% of their patients to be aged 60 years and above; Elliotet al [11] (Canada) reported that 66% of patientswere 70 years or older; while in Australia, Wolffsohnand Cochrane [12] observed that 87% of patients wereaged 60 years and above. This difference in the patternof the age distribution may be a reflection of the oldergeneral populations in developed countries [11,14] andlow life expectancy in developing countries [16].Despite this fact, thedifference may actually be an indication that the [15], and India-2.6:1 [16]. It is, however,different from the pattern in developed countrieswhere more females were found to present for lowvision services [11,12,18].…”

Blindness and low vision in Malaysia

“…Of these, 55% of eyes were blind at six months follow up [14] . In a retrospective study of 573 patients seen at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia-Malaysian Association for the Blind (UKM-MAB) low vision clinic in Kuala Lumpur, Mohidin and Yosuf [15] reported that the main causes of low vision were congenital structural defects including nystagmus among patients in the zero to 29 years age group, retinitis pigmentosa among the 30 to 59 years age group and age related macular degeneration among those over 60 years of age. Three hundred and forty one (59.5%) patients seen at the low vision clinic accepted the use of low vision devices.…”