The epidemiology of childhood blindness and severe visual impairment in Indonesia

The epidemiology of childhood blindness and severe visual impairment in Indonesia

The magnitude of blindness among children in Indonesia is unknown. In this study, we aimed to define the magnitude and aetiology of childhood blindness in two parts of Indonesia. Children aged 0-15 years, identified through key informant method and from special schools and community-based rehabilita...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of ophthalmology Vol. 102; no. 11; p. 1543
Main Authors: Muhit, Mohammad, Karim, Tasneem, Islam, Johurul, Hardianto, Denny, Muhiddin, Habibah Setyawati, Purwanta, Setia A, Suhardjo, Suhardjo, Widyandana, Doni, Khandaker, Gulam
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England 01-11-2018
Subjects:
Adolescent
Blindness - epidemiology
Blindness - etiology
Cataract - epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Consanguinity
Corneal Diseases - epidemiology
Education, Special
Female
Humans
Indonesia - epidemiology
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Retinal Diseases - epidemiology
Vision, Low - epidemiology
Vision, Low - etiology
Visual Acuity
Visually Impaired Persons - statistics & numerical data
Indonesia
epidemiology
vision
child health (paediatrics)
eye (globe)
public health
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Summary:The magnitude of blindness among children in Indonesia is unknown. In this study, we aimed to define the magnitude and aetiology of childhood blindness in two parts of Indonesia. Children aged 0-15 years, identified through key informant method and from special schools and community-based rehabilitation programme in Sumba and Yogyakarta, were assessed following WHO protocol and definitions for ophthalmological assessment and classification of visual impairment and blindness among children. Out of 195 children assessed, 113 had blindness/severe visual impairment (BL/SVI), 48 had visual impairment (VI) and 34 had no VI. 43.4% children with BL/SVI were female.The main anatomical site of BL/SVI was lens (n=35, 31.0%), followed by retina (n=13, 11.5%) and cornea (n=9, 8.0%). Among the known aetiologies, childhood factors predominated (n=14, 12.4%), followed by hereditary diseases (n=12, 10.6%) where parental consanguinity was found among 33.3% (n=4) of them. Overall, 77.8% (n=88) had avoidable causes of BL/SVI: 69.0% (n=78) treatable and 8.8% (n=10) preventable causes.The estimated prevalence of BL/SVI was 0.25 (95% CI 0.19 to 0.32) and 0.23 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.29) per 1000 children in Sumba and Yogyakarta, respectively. The estimated prevalence of cataract was 0.07 per 1000 children (95% CI 0.04 to 0.12) in Sumba and 0.05 per 1000 children (95% CI 0.03 to 0.09) in Yogyakarta. Based on our conservative estimates, there are 17 241 children with BL/SVI in Indonesia; 4270 are blind due to cataract. The magnitude of childhood BL/SVI in Sumba and Yogyakarta is high. Our study suggests that a large proportion of childhood BL/SVI in Indonesia is avoidable.
ISSN:1468-2079
DOI:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311416