Background: Low vision and blindness are significant public health issues worldwide. They result in educational, occupational, and social challenges in the affected persons. Their care givers/ families are also severely affected. There is however limited data on the magnitude of visual impairment in Aba, South East Nigeria. Objective: To determine the prevalence and causes of low vision and blindness among adult patients attending eye clinic in a tertiary hospital in South East Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was an institutional-based retrospective, descriptive study involving 457 patients who attended Abia State University Teaching Hospital eye clinic between April and September 2018. Data was obtained from patient’s hospital records within the period under study and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Statistical significance was set at a P-value of < 0.05. Results: Data of 457 ophthalmic patients who met the inclusion criteria for this study were analyzed. Mean age of respondents was 48.5 ± 17.7 years. A total 5.4% of the patients had bilateral low vision, while 30.2% and 7% had monocular and bilateral blindness respectively. Cataract-related diagnosis, refractive errors and glaucoma (28.4%, 28.2% and 14.7%) respectively were the major causes of low vision and blindness among the patients. Statistically significant association was found between respondent’s diagnosis and age as well as occupation (P<0.001). Conclusion: Results from this study will aid in planning low vision & blindness preventive programs and improving eye care services.

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Aim: To determine the common complaints and predisposing factors of low vision and blindness among adult ophthalmic patients in Abia State University Teaching Hospital, (ABSUTH), Aba, Nigeria. Study Design: A retrospective, descriptive study. Methodology: An institutional-based study involving 457 patients who attended Abia State University Teaching Hospital eye clinic between April and September 2018 was undertaken. The patients’ biodata, clinical history, ophthalmic examination findings, and results of ancillary investigations were obtained from patients’ hospital records within the period under study and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. AP-value of < 0.05 was taken to be statistical significant. Result: A total of 457 patients comprising of 206 males and 251 females, aged 18-85 years were seen in the study period. Based on World Health Organization (WHO)’s definition of low vision and blindness, two hundred and eighty-four (62.1%) patients had normal vision, 25(5.5%) patients had low vision while 32(7%) patients were blind. The most common complaint was blurring of vision, 136 (23.5%) followed by itching of the eye, 91 (15.7%) and tearing, 86 (14.9%). Forty percent of the respondents’ complaints had lasted for over 12 months before presentation at the clinic. Common predisposing factors for low vision and blindness observed in this study were hypertension (24.1%), previous drug use (5%), previous use of traditional medication (1.3%) and family ocular history (3.7%). No statistically significant association was found between diagnostic data and family ocular history, previous use of traditional medication and previous drug use. Statistically, significant relationship was found between diagnostic data and blood pressure (P< 0.001). Conclusion: There are various presentations of low vision and blindness in Aba. Routine eye check, early referral and appropriate treatment is advocated for the populace.

Background: Uncorrected refractive errors (RE) are a major cause of visual impairment. They affect a large proportion of the population globally and have psychological and socio-economic effects on the individual, family and society. They could lead to poor quality of life. Aim: To determine the pattern and predisposing factors of refractive errors among patients seen in the outpatient clinic. Methodology: A cross-sectional, descriptive study involving patients with refractive error that presented to the eye clinic in the year 2017. Data were obtained from patients’ records, entered into and analysed using IBM SPSS version 25. Results: A total of 300 patients with refractive errors were seen in the period of study. This comprised of 93 males and 207 females with mean age of 40.13±17.6 years. The commonest presenting complaint was blurring of both far & near vision (24%), other presenting complaints in decreasing order of frequency were blurring of distant vision, itching, blurring of near vision, eye pain, headache and red eyes in 18%,15%, 9.6%, 5.6%, and 3.2% respectively. Presbyopia was noted in 55.3% while myopia, anisometropia, astigmatism and hypermetropia were noted in 20.7%, 19.3%, 7.0% and 1.3% respectively. Nuclear sclerosis was the commonest co-existing ocular pathology or morbidity. Statistically significant association was found between age of the patients and presence of ocular disease existing with RE (p=0.016). Conclusion: Fifty-one percent of the study population had refractive errors. The commonest refractive error was myopia while hypermetropia was the least common refractive error in this environment.

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