title: Visual acuity and retinal changes in South Australian Aborigines.
abstract: Eye examinations were carried out a four Aboriginal reserves. Of 361 Aboriginal adults tested, 64 had a visual defect (visual acuity of 6/9 or worse) in each eye, a prevalence of 18%, with an additional 79 (22%) with a similar loss of acuity in one eye only; these were more frequently seen at the urbanized reserve of Koonibba. Only one full blood Aboriginal child within the less urbanized communities had a reduced visual acuity, whereas seven (10%) part blood children at a more urbanized reserve had reduced vision in both eyes, with a further nine (13%) in one eye only, not unlike figures quoted for South Australian school children. Vascular changes in the fundus oculi were observed and occurred more often when hypertension and/or hyperglycaemia were present. They consisted of arteriovenous crossing changes (26%), swelling of the retinal veins (3%) and altered light reflex (41%) and were not infrequently seen in the younger adult (20% of adults under 30 years had AV crossing changes and 46% had widened light streak). Analysis suggests that, although hypertension and hyperglycaemia are related to retinal vascular changes, other factors, as yet unidentified, are present in the Aboriginal population under consideration.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000150:complications; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012171:Retinal Vessels; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D000095283:Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples