Prevalence, causes and socio-economic determinants of vision loss in Cape Town, South Africa

To estimate the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment in Cape Town, South Africa and to explore socio-economic and demographic predictors of vision loss in this setting. A cross sectional population-based survey was conducted in Cape Town. Eighty-two clusters were selected using p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-02, Vol.7 (2), p.e30718-e30718
Main Authors: Cockburn, Nicky, Steven, David, Lecuona, Karin, Joubert, Francois, Rogers, Graeme, Cook, Colin, Polack, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acuity
Age Distribution
Analysis
Apartheid
Blindness
Blindness - complications
Blindness - epidemiology
Blindness - etiology
Blindness - surgery
Cataract - complications
Cataract - epidemiology
Cataract - physiopathology
Cataract Extraction
Cataracts
Childrens health
Demographics
Economic analysis
Economic aspects
Education
Epidemiology
Eye (anatomy)
Eye surgery
Female
Health disparities
Hospitals
Households
Humans
Male
Medicine
Middle Aged
Population
Poverty
Prevalence
Prevention
Principal components analysis
Sampling
Socioeconomic Factors
Socioeconomics
South Africa - epidemiology
Surgery
Surveillance
Surveys
Treatment Outcome
Tuberculosis
Vision
Visual Acuity
Visual impairment
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Summary:To estimate the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment in Cape Town, South Africa and to explore socio-economic and demographic predictors of vision loss in this setting. A cross sectional population-based survey was conducted in Cape Town. Eighty-two clusters were selected using probability proportionate to size sampling. Within each cluster 35 or 40 people aged 50 years and above were selected using compact segment sampling. Visual acuity of participants was assessed and eyes with a visual acuity less than 6/18 were examined by an ophthalmologist to determine the cause of vision loss. Demographic data (age, gender and education) were collected and a socio-economic status (SES) index was created using principal components analysis. Out of 3100 eligible people, 2750 (89%) were examined. The sample prevalence of bilateral blindness (presenting visual acuity
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0030718