Presbyopia: Prevalence, distribution and determinants in Owerri, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Presbyopia causes blurring and impairment of vision at near. It is the most common physiologic change in the adult eye with advancing age. Good near vision is a necessity for domestic activities, office work and near vision tasks other than reading and writing, especially among adults in a resource-limited economy. The study determined the prevalence, distribution and determinants of presbyopia; presbyopic spectacle coverage; and provided data for ready-made near vision spectacles in Imo State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A total of three thousand, four hundred and fifty-one adults consisting of 2606 persons as study group and 845 persons as controls were randomly selected for the study. Structured questionnaire was administered to the subjects. Their visual acuity at far and near including tonometry, ophthalmoscopy, perimetry. retinoscopy and subjective refraction were done. Subjects who could not read N6 and emmetropes, who are 40 years and above were considered as presbyopic. Results: The prevalence of presbyopia was 70.9% and 75.0% of study and control groups respectively. Females aged 40-49 were in the majority (57.1% and 51.9% of females in the study and control groups respectively). Subjects requiring additions at near of>+1.50DS to 2.00DS were in the majority (39.0% and 46.4% of study and control groups respectively). Amongst the presbyopes 61.3% and 78.7% of study and control groups respectively did not have presbyopic correction. The subjects were also ignorant of corneal inlay technology in treatment of presbyopia. A higher prevalence exists among rural dwellers and the contributory factors were environmental influences, poor nutrition and irrational use of chloroquine for treatment of malaria. Conclusion: Over seventy percent of presbyopia was found in this study. The determinants were age, gender, nutrition and drug use. Majority of the presbyopes were domicile in the rural area and did not have corrective spectacles. We recommend visual health education, regular vision screening and intervention to achieve the targets of vision 2020 in low-and medium-income countries.

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