Retrospective study of the pattern of eye disorders among patients in delta state university teaching hospital, Oghara

Abstract

Ocular disease is an important public health issue and constitutes one of the commonest problems presenting in general primary healthcare in Nigeria. The present study examined the prevalence of eye disorders among patients attending Delta State University Teaching Hospital Oghara Delta State, Nigeria. A descriptive study was adopted as the research design in sampling 2,003 cases in the hospital records within one (1) year using a simple random sampling technique. Data obtained from the study revealed that 1033 (52%) of the cases reviewed were males, while 970 (48%) were females. The cases that were between the ages of 60–69 years were 395 (19.7%) out of which 216 (8.9%) were males and the remaining 179 (8.9%) cases were females. Majority of the cases reviewed were married with a frequency of 1,399 (69.9%). The occupational distribution of patients revealed that the highest ocular disease was found among civil servants with a total of 480 (24%) cases. Results of the study equally revealed that eye disorders related to the crystalline lens were the most prevalent eye diseases accounting for 620 (31%) out of the total sampled cases with cataract being the most prevalent (455, 22.7%) in this group. Conjunctiva eye disorders accounted for 320 (16%), followed by refractive errors 292 (14.6%), and retina diseases 262 (13.1%). Glaucomatous eye diseases were the fifth most detected with a total of 230 (11.5%). More so, the prevalence of optic nerve and visual pathway diseases was 86 (4.3%) out of the recorded cases while Patients with Eyelids disease had the lowest detected eye diseases with a total of 59 (3%), whereas, eye diseases of the Cornea seen was low 132 (6.6%). Eye conditions such as cataracts, conjunctivitis, refractive errors, glaucoma, cornea disorders, optic nerve, and visual pathway diseases, and eyelid disorders such as chalazion, blepharitis, and lipoma were identified to have a leading rate of a pattern of distribution with chances of complications. Hence, it is recommended that there is an urgent need for follow-up of patients of eye disorders with proper education on eye management to improve awareness of the pattern of eye disorder that could be associated with burden of visual impairment and blindness.