Prevalence and factors associated with ocular morbidity among prisoners of Luzira prison (Uganda)

BACKGROUND: Globally, ocular morbidity has emerged as a major public concern with at least 2.2 billion people having vision impairment or blindness. Prisoners (inmates) tend to have limited access to health care especially eye health, and as a result some conditions may go undiagnosed or mismanaged. With the increasing prison population in Uganda and in the face of limited facilities, little is known about the prevalence and factors associated with ocular morbidity amongst inmates of Luzira prison. METHOD: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on inmates of Luzira prison. The study included both male (334) and female (33) inmates using the proportionate stratified random sampling. Data on social demographic characteristics, medical, imprisonment factors and ocular assessment was collected using a questionnaire. All complete data was entered using an Epidata version 3.1 entry template, and logistic regression was used to determine associated factors. RESULTS: Overall, a total of 367 inmates were examined consisting of 334 (91%) males and 33(8.9%) females. The male-to-female ratio was 10:1 with ages ranging from 18 to 76 years. The mean age being 39 years (SD + 13.4) and the overall ocular morbidity was found to be 49%. The most common ocular morbidity included; presbyopia (27.4%), allergic conjunctivitis (19.6%) and cataracts (11.4%). Other disorders included; refractive errors, pterygia, optic atrophy and vitamin A deficiency. There was a statistically significant relationship between ocular morbidity and age (OR 11.96, CI 0.85–2.74), trauma (OR 5.21, CI 1.52–17.87), non-prison food (OR 0.45, CI 0.26–0.79). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ocular morbidity among inmates was found to be high and significantly associated with age, trauma and having meals besides prison food. A fully functional eye unit established within the prison, and timely referral of complicated cases would help in offering quality eye services to the inmates. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-02035-w.