Causes of blindness among children Al Noor Institute for the visually handicapped in Qatar

Abstract EN

Using the World Health Organization (WHO) visual acuity classification protocol, a national simple descrip-tive study for determination of the causes and (’verity of sight loss amongst 90 children studying in,١ / Noor lnsti-tute for blinds ill Qatar was (lone between September 2001-September 2002.

Of 90 patients with complete ophthalmic examinations, 65 (72 %) of them had an inherited or con-genital cause and only 25(28 %) had on acquired cause.

The main causes were bilateral congenital microphthalmia, Homocystinuria with lens subluxation) dislocations, ac-quired retinal disease such as Retinopathy of prematurity, Congenital cataract, retinitis Pigmentosa, Optic atrophy and congenital Glaucoma in descending order.

Conclusion : The principal causes ofblindness amongst children in Qatar were inherited and/or congenital, most probably due to consanguineous marriages.

The outline for childhood blindness is similar in arab gulf countries in comparison to datant countries such as India, Czech Re-