Prevalence of amblyopia among adult population and their various impacts on life: An experience over a period of eight months

Abstract

Background: Amblyopia is due to insufficient development of the visual system in early childhood and affects 1% and 2% population of most developed countries. Aims and Objective: (1) Prevalence of amblyopia among adult population attending our hospital. (2) Effect of amblyopia on their academic performance, social life, and on future establishment. (3) Its determinants in a population. Methods: This is a prospective, single-center, hospital-based study, where adults between 18 and 60 years were included. A history of ocular trauma, known case of amblyopia, and past ocular surgery were excluded from the study. In this study, amblyopia was defined as best-corrected visual acuity of 20/30 or less or 2-line acuity differences with no pathology. Results: Of the total 2880 adults screened, 280 were diagnosed to have amblyopia with a prevalence of 1.75%. Amblyopia was more common among the males (51.1%, N = 143) as compared to females. A maximum number of patients were found in the age group of 20–30. Refractive amblyopia was found to be the most common cause of amblyopia. There was a family history of amblyopia only in 0.7% (N = 2) of cases. Conclusion: Awareness of amblyopia among the parents is essential for early detection and treatment of the disease, which will, in turn, reduce the burden of childhood visual impairment.

Keywords

• amblyopia among adults
• causes of amblyopia
• effects of amblyopia