[A survey and treatment of blindness in Gejiu City of Yunnan Province].
OBJECTIVE
To calculate the percentage of blindness in the mass and evaluate the current conditions of treatment for cataract.


METHODS
In accordance with the national unified standards and procedures, a clue survey of the people aged under 40 years and a general survey of the people over 40 years in Gejiu city, Yunnan province were carried out. In the mean time, operations were performed for the patients with cataract.


RESULTS
Of the total 361 214 persons being surveyed, there were binocular blindness in 1 037 cases (0.29%) and monocular one in 983 cases (0.27%). Of the cases with binocular blindness, 593 cases (57.18%), and of the monocular blindness, 617 cases (62.77%) could be treated. The leading causes of 1037 cases with binocular blindness were cataract (51.98%), injuries of the eye (19.96%), corneal opacity (16.00%), glaucoma (10.03%), refractive error and other ocular diseases (2.03%). The average prevalence rate in the female cases was higher than that of male cases (chi(2) = 53.48, P < 0.01). Blindness was associated with older age There were variations in the prevalence rates in different aboriginals and in cases with different occupations. Cataract was the main disease to cause both the monocular and binocular blindness. Among the patients with cataract 539 cases (90.98%) of binocular blindness and 500 cases (81.03%) of monocular blindness were curable. The cataract operation was performed on 738 cases with cataract, including 396 cases with binocular blindness and 342 cases with monocular blindness. At postoperative 3 months, the rate of the best corrected visual acuity (eye sight > 0.05) was accounted for 97.73%, the rate of the eye sight > 0.3, 86.36% and the rate of wearing glasses (including implantation of intraocular lens), 85.60%.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of blindness is associated with the aboriginal, occupation, age and the sex. The leading cause of blindness is cataract. So the surgical restoration of vision in cases with cataract is the main measure in the prevention of blindness.
Li
N
N
Department of Opbthalmololgy, Gejiu People's Hospital, Gejiu 661000, China.
Wang
C
C
Wang
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D002386:Cataract / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity