Disability Due to Blindness of the Adult Population of Azerbaijan: Level, Reasons, Age – Gender Relations

Nazila Rustamova

National Ophthalmology Center named after academic Zarifa Aliyeva. AZ 1114, Baku Djavadkhan str., 32/12

ABSTRACT: The role of individual pathologies of vision in the development of blindness differs depending on the place of residence, age and climate –and-geographic conditions. This problem also exists in the Azerbaijan Republic. The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence of disability due to blindness in Azerbaijan, characterize its reasons and dependency on the population’s age. The material for our study were the medical records of disable persons (blind). Gender, age, education, previous employment, detailed diagnosis with the date of its confirmation and the basic parameters of the organs of vision are indicated in these documents. We used the documents for 2001- 2008. The total number of the blind patients was 16303. All the diagnoses were coded according to the ICD-10. The initial cause of blindness as "the disease or injury that resulted in the chain of pathological processes leading directly to blindness” was set for each patient. Methods of descriptive statistics and analysis of qualitative features were used. The proportion of the blind persons by age, reasons of blindness and severity of disability ( pˆ), standard error (Spˆ), Z criterion at the comparison of two shares, Yates correction for continuity were determined. When comparing more than two shares contingency tables (criterion χ²) were used. Depending on the cause of blindness, the average age of patients at the primary confirmation of diagnosis varies widely: the minimum value in blindness due to diseases of the eye muscles, conjugate eye movement disorders, accommodation and refraction (95% CI: 31.7 – 34.1 years for men, 30.0 – 32.8 years for women ), the maximum value of blindness due to glaucoma (95% CI: 58.5 – 59.9 years for men, 58.7 – 60.3 for women). The frequency of annual cases of blindness increases with the age of the population. The most common causes of blindness are diseases of the eye muscles, conjugate eye movement disorders, accommodation and refraction, disease of the lens, trauma.

KEYWORDS: blindness; eye diseases; prevalence; risk factors; confidence interval (CI )

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