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Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study

AIM: Visual impairment and blindness are important global health issues as they are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life, leading to substantial economic loss and productivity. There are only a few published articles on vision impairment and blindness in Saudi Ara...

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Autores principales: Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M, Ahmad, Mohammad S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7553034/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33117027
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTO.S265293
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author Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M
Ahmad, Mohammad S
author_facet Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M
Ahmad, Mohammad S
author_sort Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M
collection PubMed
description AIM: Visual impairment and blindness are important global health issues as they are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life, leading to substantial economic loss and productivity. There are only a few published articles on vision impairment and blindness in Saudi Arabia to compare the range of estimated global prevalence of low vision, blindness, and their causes. This study aims to find out the important causes of vision impairment and blindness in schools for the blind in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the blind schools in Buraidah city of Qassim province. A total of 278 registered cases were included in this study using a systematic random sampling of registered cases. Based on the definitions, the cases were classified as having vision impairment and/or blindness. The data were entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS 25. RESULTS: The mean age was 30 years (range: 6 to 83 years) and 174 (76.4%) were males and 84 (32.6%) being females. The male:female ratio was 2:1. All the respondents were of Saudi ethnicity. Mild to moderate visual impairment was found in 6%, severe visual impairment in 27%, and blindness was seen in 64% of registered cases. The causes of blindness in these registered cases from blind school were retinitis pigmentosa (26%), optic atrophy (16%), glaucoma (7%), head trauma (6%), nystagmus (6%), retinopathy of prematurity (6%), ocular albinism (4%), corneal opacities (4%), amblyopia (3%) and other causes (22%). Overall, retinal disorders (retinitis pigmentosa and retinopathy of prematurity) were the leading causes of disability followed by optic atrophy. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study are useful in planning and implementing screening programs in this area for early identification and corrections, thus preventing permanent loss of sight.
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spelling pubmed-75530342020-10-27 Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M Ahmad, Mohammad S Clin Optom (Auckl) Original Research AIM: Visual impairment and blindness are important global health issues as they are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life, leading to substantial economic loss and productivity. There are only a few published articles on vision impairment and blindness in Saudi Arabia to compare the range of estimated global prevalence of low vision, blindness, and their causes. This study aims to find out the important causes of vision impairment and blindness in schools for the blind in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the blind schools in Buraidah city of Qassim province. A total of 278 registered cases were included in this study using a systematic random sampling of registered cases. Based on the definitions, the cases were classified as having vision impairment and/or blindness. The data were entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS 25. RESULTS: The mean age was 30 years (range: 6 to 83 years) and 174 (76.4%) were males and 84 (32.6%) being females. The male:female ratio was 2:1. All the respondents were of Saudi ethnicity. Mild to moderate visual impairment was found in 6%, severe visual impairment in 27%, and blindness was seen in 64% of registered cases. The causes of blindness in these registered cases from blind school were retinitis pigmentosa (26%), optic atrophy (16%), glaucoma (7%), head trauma (6%), nystagmus (6%), retinopathy of prematurity (6%), ocular albinism (4%), corneal opacities (4%), amblyopia (3%) and other causes (22%). Overall, retinal disorders (retinitis pigmentosa and retinopathy of prematurity) were the leading causes of disability followed by optic atrophy. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study are useful in planning and implementing screening programs in this area for early identification and corrections, thus preventing permanent loss of sight. Dove 2020-10-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7553034/ /pubmed/33117027 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTO.S265293 Text en © 2020 Alabdulwahhab and Ahmad. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Alabdulwahhab, Khalid M
Ahmad, Mohammad S
Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Visual Impairment and Blindness in Saudi Arabia’s School for the Blind: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort visual impairment and blindness in saudi arabia’s school for the blind: a cross-sectional study
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7553034/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33117027
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTO.S265293
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