Ocular Co-morbidity in Patients with Refractive Errors in Nigeria

Purpose: To d eterm ine the p attern and p revalence of other ocu lar p roblem s seen in p atients w ith refractive errors in a N igerian teaching hosp ital. Methods: A retrosp ective hosp ital-based review of all consecu tive p atients w ho p resented w ith signs and sym p tom s of refractive errors at the Obafem i Aw olow o University Teaching H osp itals Com p lex betw een 1 Janu ary 2007 and 31 Au gu st 2007. Patients w ho had a st d iagnosis of refractive error and su bsequ ently had d etailed eye exam ination w ere inclu d ed in this stu d y. Data w as retrieved from the p atients’ clinical record s and analyzed w ith SPSS version 15. Results: Ou t of 724 new p atients seen w ithin the stu d y p eriod , 235 had refractive errors (93 m ales and 142 fem ales). Patients’ ages ranged betw een 7 and 74 years w ith a m ean of 30.5+/ 4.6 years. In m ore than half (54%) of the p atients, associated ocu lar co-m orbid ities w ere d ocu m ented . The vision-im p airing d iseases d ocu m ented m orbid ities in 56 (44.1) p atients w ere cataract 26 (20.5%), glau com a 20 (15.8%), d iabetic m acu lop athy 3 (2.7%), am blyop ia, corneal op acities and CMV retinitis. N on vision-im p airing d isord ers d ocu m ented w ere conju nctivitis, 49 (38.6%); p terygiu m 6 (4.7%), chalazion 5 (3.9%), hypertensive retinop athy 4 (3.1%), d ry eyes and ep iscleritis. Im m atu re cataract w as responsible for abou t 2/ 3 of cases w ith p oor corrected visu al acu ity d ocu m ented in a large p rop ortion of the p atients 26 (11.1%). Conclusion: Patients w ith refractive errors need d etailed ocu lar exam ination for early d etection of other com orbid ities w hich m ay significantly affect vision and lead to avoid able blind ness and visu al im p airm ent. Key w ords: refractive errors, ocu lar co-m orbid ity, glau com a, visu al im p airm ent, blind ness