Prevalence of Low Vision in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria

This study evaluated the prevalence of low vision in Owerri municipal in Imo State, Nigeria. A total of 371 persons within the age of 18-97 years were examined and 60 persons had low vision. Low vision prevalence of 16.21% was found. The age bracket of 71-79 and 80-88 years were mostly affected while the least affected was 8-l6years. The prevalence of low vision was more in female (56.60%) than in males (43.33%). About 60% were above 50 years of age. The major causes of low vision were cataract (35.29%), glaucoma (29.41%) and glaucoma/cataract (23.52%). The most common visual acuity range after low vision assessment was <6/18-6/60 (16.67%), <6/60-3/60 (26.67%), respectively and no light perception (NLP, 13.33%). The findings from our results showed that gender and increase in age were the major risk factors for low vision. The results also established that cataract and glaucoma were the commonest causes of low vision. We therefore suggest that availability of efficient and effective low vision services would go a long way to reduce the burden of low vision in our society