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CLINICAL PROFILE OF PATIENTS PRESENTING TO LOW VISION CLINIC AT A TERTIARY CENTRE IN ISFAHAN, IRAN.

Dr.Fereshteh Kargar Bafrani, Dr.Tannaz Aghaei Badr, Dr.Luxhman Gunaseelan, Dr.Abdul Wahab, Faranak Kargar Bafrani,

Objective: - Our present study aims to provide the demographic and clinical traits of the patients presenting to our Low vision tertiary centre in Isfahan, Iran. Materials and Methods:- - This was a population-based prospective cross-sectional study and included all the patients presenting to our clinic between October-2018 and March-2019. Overall, a total of 790 patients were included in this study after the inclusion criteria are met. We assessed the clinical characteristics of the study populations. The primary presenting complaint in 229 (29%) was impaired distance vision and in 183 (23.1%), it was poor near vision and 378 (47.8%) presented with complaints of both near and distance vision. The most common etiological cause resulting in visual impairment in our study was Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) followed by Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) contributing 176 (22.2%) and 174 (22.0%) respectively. Results: - A total of 790 patients were included in this study, and it was noted that the mean age of study population was 48.95 (±19.6) years with a range of 5-90 years. Of the total study group, there were 444 (56.2%) males and 346 (43.7%) females. Conclusion: - Establishing additional Low vision clinics throughout the country to actively identify the individuals with “functional Low vision” through regular screening initiatives is suggested. It was found in our study that majority of the patients visiting our clinic were elderly with Age Related Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy. There might be an incongruity between actual number of patients with Low vision and those who seek the medical attention due to multitude of reasons, due to this, it is suggested that multi-centre studies through the country needs to be carried out to build a robust system in diagnosing and treating patients with Low vision and blindness.

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