Abstract

Aim: To determine the prevalence and causes of visual impairment and blindness in the Sistan-va-Baluchestan Province of Iran. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study with a multistage cluster sampling technique was used to identify the study subjects. Visual acuity (VA) was defined for all participants aged >= 10 years. Participants with a VA of < 20/60 were examined by an ophthalmologist to determine the causes of low vision or blindness. Results: 5446 (84.0) of the invited people were examined. The prevalence of visual impairment (VA < 20/60) was 6.81 (95 CI 5.91 to 7.71) and of bilateral blindness (VA < 3/60) was 0.79 (95 CI 0.50 to 1.08). Visual impairment increased with age and illiteracy. Bilateral blindness doubled in women aged > 40 years. The causes of visual impairment and blindness were cataract (37.7), corneal opacity (15.0), amblyopia (15.0), glaucoma (5.7) and hyperopia (5.0). 39.5 of the visual impairment cases were potentially curable. Conclusion: The estimated magnitude of visual impairment and blindness was much higher than our expectations. Further investigation of the pattern of vision loss in women and children, particularly as a result of trachoma and amblyopia, is warranted. Implementation of measures to treat curable cases of the study population can improve the situation in the region dramatically.