Authors : Pranesh Kulkarni, Shraddha Sudarshan, Praveen Kumar
DOI : 10.18231/j.pjms.2023.063
Volume : 13
Issue : 2
Year : 2023
Page No : 328-333
Background: Ocular morbidities are quite common phenomenon in elderly patients due to lack of immunity and associated diseases like Diabetes mellitus, HTN which result into blindness. Ocular morbidities are also influenced by their location, habits and medical history. This study is attempted to study the pattern of ocular morbidity and to understand the risk factors responsible for visual impairment.
Materials and Methods: It is a hospital based cross sectional study where 300 patients > 60 years with ocular morbidities were studied. A visual acuity of <6>
Results: The highest ocular morbidity was cataract 34% followed by Refractive Error 30%, Blepharitis 16.3%, Dry eye 12.6% and pterygium, 8.5%. Majority of the blindness was due to cataracts 42.05%, followed by Glaucoma 12.5% and the third major cause was corneal ulcers 10.23%.Eyelid Abnormalities were seen in 1.4% in 60-75 years of age, 5.9% in 76-85, 47.4% in the age group of 86 years and above and p value was highly significant (p<0>
Corneal degenerations were found in 1.1 % in Urban and 14.5% in rural population and p value was highly significant (P<0>
Conclusion: In the present study cataract was found to be the most common ocular morbidity among elderly patients (>60 years) followed by Refractive error, Blepharitis, dry eye and pterygium. Cataract was the major cause of blindness followed by glaucoma. This study will help ophthalmologists to treat such patients efficiently considering the factors influencing the ocular morbidities in the elderly and ensure early intervention to prevent blindness.
Keywords: Visual acuity, Ophthalmoscope, Slitlamp, Torchlight, Retinoscope, Schiotztonometer