Baseline traits of patients presenting at a low vision clinic in Shanghai, China

BACKGROUND: Low vision, along with cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, childhood blindness and refractive error, is one of the priorities in the global initiative, VISION 2020-The Right to Sight. The purpose of this study was to characterize the traits of patients presenting at a low vision clinic in China. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of the records of 299 patients who visited the Low Vision Clinic of Eye and ENT Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from January 2009 to May 2014. Reviewed parameters included age, gender, education, occupation, cause of visual impairment and types of low vision aids (LVAs) dispensed. RESULTS: Of all the patients (193 male; aged from 3 to 96 years, with a mean of 29.74 ± 25.23 years), 43.48% experienced moderate visual impairment, 25.42% had severe visual impairment and 21.07% were blind. The four major causes of visual impairment were congenital cataract (14.38%), degenerative myopia (13.71%), juvenile macular degeneration (9.36%) and retinitis pigmentosa (9.36%). The most common causes of visual impairment were congenital cataract (22.67%) in 0-19-year-olds, retinitis pigmentosa (20.62%) in 20-59-year-olds, and age-related macular degeneration (36.54%) in the 60+ group. With the help of LVAs, a significant improvement of distance and/or near vision or visual field was observed in 243 patients, of whom 185 accepted LVAs and 58 patients refused due to high price, inconvenience, young age (≤6 y), clumsy appearance and ignorance. The most commonly dispensed LVAs were stand magnifiers (21.57%) followed by spectacle-type LVAs (19.21%). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the patients in our low vision clinic were young, the main causes of visual impairment were congenital and hereditary diseases. Stand magnifiers were the most commonly dispensed LVAs. High price was the major reason for refusing LVAs.