چكيده لاتين :
Background: Causes of blindness in children vary according
to the region and socioeconomic development. Within a given
country these causes vary with passage of time. This reflects
different levels of socioeconomic development and provision
of health care services. This cross-sectional study was undertaken
to estimate the major causes of severe visual impairment
in children and specially preventable and curable blindness in
southern Iran.
Methods: 145 students of Shiraz Blindsי School, Shiraz, Iran,
interviewed, examined and their medical documents reviewed.
Causes of visual loss were analyzed according to involved
anatomic area.
Results: 145 students (290 eyes) were examined (53.1 % girls
and 46.9% boys), among which 42.1 % had vision of no light
perception. Eye dysgenesis was found in 21.4%, glaucoma in
15.9%, lens associated visual loss in 6.2%, optic nerve lesions
in1.4%, retinal problems in 54.48% and corneal problems in
less than 1%. Sixty five students had retinitis pigmentosa,
which was the single commonest cause of visual loss.
Conclusion: The major cause of childhood blindness in this
region is retinitis pigmentosa, followed by microphtalmia, eye
dysgenesis and congenital glaucoma. Large proportion of
these blind children had a positive history of consanguineous
marriage in their parents and this seemed to be the most probable
cause of increased frequency of genetic causes of childhood
blindness.
