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Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade

PURPOSE: To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Maharashtra, India. METHODS: Children aged <16 years, enrolled in the schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India were examined between October 2018 and December 2019. The anat...

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Autores principales: Kulkarni, Sucheta, Gilbert, Clare, Giri, Nilesh, Hankare, Pravin, Dole, Kuldeep, Deshpande, M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9023984/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35086244
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_1930_21
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author Kulkarni, Sucheta
Gilbert, Clare
Giri, Nilesh
Hankare, Pravin
Dole, Kuldeep
Deshpande, M
author_facet Kulkarni, Sucheta
Gilbert, Clare
Giri, Nilesh
Hankare, Pravin
Dole, Kuldeep
Deshpande, M
author_sort Kulkarni, Sucheta
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Maharashtra, India. METHODS: Children aged <16 years, enrolled in the schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India were examined between October 2018 and December 2019. The anatomical sites and etiology for blindness were recorded using the World Health Organization’s standard reporting form. Causes of blindness were compared among different regions of the state and also by different age groups. RESULTS: Of the 1,969 students examined from 39 schools for the blind, 188 children (9.5%) had severe visual impairment and 1,666 children (84.6%) were blind. Whole globe anomalies (794, 42.8%) were the most common anatomical site of vision loss in children, followed by corneal (289, 15.6%) and retinal abnormalities (280, 15.2%). Corneal causes were second most common in the poorer districts of Vidarbha (15.3%) and Marathwada (14.6%), whereas retinal causes were second most common in the wealthier regions of western Maharashtra (18.3%) and Khandesh (24.1%). Nearly one-third (593, 32%) of children were blind from potentially avoidable causes. Preventable blindness consisting of corneal causes and retinopathy of prematurity was seen in 281 (15.2%) cases, whereas treatable causes comprising of lens-related causes, glaucomas, refractive errors, amblyopia, and uveitis accounted for another 311 (16.8%). Among the younger children (≤10 years), the proportion of corneal blindness was lower (83/623, 13.3% vs. 206/1232, 16.7%) and that of retinal blindness was higher (119/623, 19% vs. 163/1232, 13.2%) than the older children. CONCLUSION: Whole globe anomalies constitute a major cause of SVI and blindness in Maharashtra. There seems to be an increase in the proportion of retinal blindness, especially retinopathy of prematurity, suggesting a need for increased screening coverage.
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spelling pubmed-90239842022-04-23 Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade Kulkarni, Sucheta Gilbert, Clare Giri, Nilesh Hankare, Pravin Dole, Kuldeep Deshpande, M Indian J Ophthalmol Special Focus, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Original Article PURPOSE: To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Maharashtra, India. METHODS: Children aged <16 years, enrolled in the schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India were examined between October 2018 and December 2019. The anatomical sites and etiology for blindness were recorded using the World Health Organization’s standard reporting form. Causes of blindness were compared among different regions of the state and also by different age groups. RESULTS: Of the 1,969 students examined from 39 schools for the blind, 188 children (9.5%) had severe visual impairment and 1,666 children (84.6%) were blind. Whole globe anomalies (794, 42.8%) were the most common anatomical site of vision loss in children, followed by corneal (289, 15.6%) and retinal abnormalities (280, 15.2%). Corneal causes were second most common in the poorer districts of Vidarbha (15.3%) and Marathwada (14.6%), whereas retinal causes were second most common in the wealthier regions of western Maharashtra (18.3%) and Khandesh (24.1%). Nearly one-third (593, 32%) of children were blind from potentially avoidable causes. Preventable blindness consisting of corneal causes and retinopathy of prematurity was seen in 281 (15.2%) cases, whereas treatable causes comprising of lens-related causes, glaucomas, refractive errors, amblyopia, and uveitis accounted for another 311 (16.8%). Among the younger children (≤10 years), the proportion of corneal blindness was lower (83/623, 13.3% vs. 206/1232, 16.7%) and that of retinal blindness was higher (119/623, 19% vs. 163/1232, 13.2%) than the older children. CONCLUSION: Whole globe anomalies constitute a major cause of SVI and blindness in Maharashtra. There seems to be an increase in the proportion of retinal blindness, especially retinopathy of prematurity, suggesting a need for increased screening coverage. Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2022-02 2022-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9023984/ /pubmed/35086244 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_1930_21 Text en Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Special Focus, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Original Article
Kulkarni, Sucheta
Gilbert, Clare
Giri, Nilesh
Hankare, Pravin
Dole, Kuldeep
Deshpande, M
Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title_full Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title_fullStr Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title_full_unstemmed Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title_short Visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in Maharashtra state, India: Changing trends over the last decade
title_sort visual impairment and blindness among children from schools for the blind in maharashtra state, india: changing trends over the last decade
topic Special Focus, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9023984/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35086244
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_1930_21
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