Survey Of Blindness And Causes Among Uygur Peasants Aged 60 And Over In Kuche Country Of Xinjiang

Objective:To investigate the prevalence and cause of blindness among Uygur peasants aged 60 and over in Kuche County of Xinjiang,China.Methods:Using n=Z ~2p(1-p)/B~2 to calculate the sample volume,Cluster sampling was used in randomly selecting individuals aged 60 or above in Kuche County of Xinjiang in May 2005.According to the demography information,recombination all the county people into 225 sampling units,each sampling unit contain about 1000 persons,on the base of the registered permanent resident,All people aged 60 and above with local registered residents were include,while those who was local resident but depart exceed 1 year were be discharged,without local registered resident but stay here more than 1 years were include.A total of 1 125 individuals were selected and 905 individuals were examined for visual acuity and eye condition.The prevalence of blindness was calculated according to the pinhole vision with WHO blindness criterion.A diagnosis of the principal cause for all the eyes with presenting visual acuity less than 0.3 and with pinhole visual acuity less than 0.3 was made as well.Using the slit lamp check the anterior of the ocular,using the ophthalmoscope exam the posterior of the ocular.Those people with exam of the slit lamp and ophthalmoscope still can not detach the causes of blindness will dilate pupil and check introcular pressure,and then make the diagnosis which cause the blindness. All the post-introcular-cataract extraction patient will check the vision acuity and ocular examination.Results:Among 905 cases investigated,the prevalence of bilateral blindness was 5.65%.The prevalence of bilateral blindness was 5.8 folds in the group aged≥80 years than in the age group of 60-79 years,the difference had statistical significance(x~2=34.0,P＜0.01);Men had a higher prevalence of blindness than woman, but the difference had no statistical significance(x~2=2.1,P＞0.05).The prevalence of bilateral blindness was 2.37 folds in the group with literated than in the group with illiterated,the difference had statistical significance(x~2=8.1,P＜0.05);The leading causes of blindness were cataract,glaucoma and retinal disease.Conclusions:The prevalence of bilateral blindness was 5.65%in Uygur peasants over 60 years age.The leading cause of blindness was cataract,in order to decrease the prevalence of blindness,we should focus on how to improve the cataract surgery rate as well as improve the eye health care.