Prevalence and causes of visual impairment among adults in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and causes of visual impairment among adults in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, Nigeria. This was a  rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) study in which a  multistaged sampling technique was used to select a total of  22 clusters. Households were selected by the compact segment  technique, which were visited door by door until 39 persons  aged 50 years and above are identified and recruited for the  study. Examination and diagnosis was made based on the RAAB  protocol to determine the major cause of visual impairment.  The prevalence of visual impairment and blindness was 18.8%  [confidence interval (CI)=16.2–21.4%] and 5.6% (CI=4.2–7.0%),  respectively. The wards with the highest prevalence of visual  impairment are Rigiza (45%), Gangare (35%),  and Ibrahim  Katsina ward (35%). About 96.8% causes of visual impairments  and 95% causes of blindness were avoidable with cataract [78  (48.8%)],  glaucoma [26 (16.3%)], uncorrected refractive error [25  (15.6%)], cataract surgical complications [17 (10.6%)], and  couching [5 (3.1%)] being the most  common causes of visual  impairment and cataract [18 (37.5%)], glaucoma [16 (33.3%)],  and couching [5 (10.4%)] being the most common causes of   blindness. The prevalence of visual impairment was found to be  18.8% in Jos North Local Government Council, and this varies  among the wards with  Rigiza, Gangare, and Ibrahim Katsina  having the highest prevalence. Most of the causes were  avoidable. There is a need to reorganize the  existing eye-care  program and also integrate eye-care services into the existing  ealthcare services that are not rendering eye-care services in  the  LGA so as to reduce the burden of blindness and visual  impairment.