Myopia as a cause of low vision

Abstract

A descriptive, quasi-experimental, longitudinal and retrospective study was carried out at the Low Vision Services of the Arnaldo Milian Castro Provincial University Hospital in Villa Clara province. It went on from September 1997 to September 2006 with the aim of identifying the incidence of low vision due to myopia in the province. Myopia is the kind ametropia most frequently found in Ophthalmology consulting rooms and it turns into a serious ophthalmologic condition when it is progressive and magna or malignant, or both. In spite of the fact that not all of the people affected by this condition, and requiring medical attention, attend the consulting room yet, it is noticeable a large amount of people suffering from myopia compared to the rest of the illnesses causing low vision in patients attending these services. This situation motivated our study. The universe was formed by the total amount of people attending these services during the above mentioned period; all of them underwent a full clinical ophthalmologic assessment and low vision tests. From the total amount of assessed patients (408), 19.85 percent presented myopia as a cause of visual disability, representing the highest cause of low vision in our study universe. The highest incidence was found among people over 15 years of age (46), most of the patients were females (51.85%) and serious myopia or myopia magna (more than 6d) was found in 79.02 percent of the sample.