title: Blindness and visual impairment amongst rural Malays in Kuala Selangor, Selangor.
abstract: A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of visual impairment and blindness and its causes amongst the adult rural Malay population in the district of Kuala Selangor, Selangor. By simple random sampling 330 samples were selected for the study. All samples underwent complete ophthalmological examination. The crude prevalence of visual impairment and blindness were 0.7% and 5.6% respectively. Age was the most important factor associated with the prevalence; gender, level of education and level of income was not significantly related. Cataract was the commonest cause of visual impairment and blindness while diabetic retinopathy was the second important cause.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zainal
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Masran
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ropilah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*