Clinical Aspects of 273 Patients with Visual Disability.

Kim, Kwang Hyun; Oh, Tschang Seog; Jang, Sung Dong

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2002;43(1):136-142.
Published online January 1, 2002.

Clinical Aspects of 273 Patients with Visual Disability.

Kwang Hyun Kim, Tschang Seog Oh, Sung Dong Jang

Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Dongguk University, Kyongju, Korea. duke94@netsgo.com

시각장애자 273명의 임상적 고찰

김광현 ( Kwang Hyun Kim ) , 오창석 ( Tschang Seog Oh ) , 장성동 ( Sung Dong Jang )

Abstract

PURPOSE
To report clinical features of visually disabled people by newly revised legal blindness criteria. METHODS: A prospective evaluation of all blind registrations was conducted at Dongguk University Hospital from January 2000 to December 2000. Detailed ophthalmologic evaluations were performed and the review of the diagnosis was done in order to find out the cause of the visual disability. RESULTS: There were 273 patients (343 eyes) for newly registered blindness. Of these, 190 (69.6%, 190/273) were men and mean age was 53.8+/-15.48. The sixth degree visual disability was most common (74.0%, 202/273) according to the newly revised legal blindness criteria, and most common cause of blindness was trauma (38.2%, 131/343). Government office advised 122 patients (44.7%, 122/273) to register legal blindness . CONCLUSION: Further nationwide epidemiological survey for legal visual disability is required by standardized classification and criteria.

Key Words: Blindness;Visual disability