Causes of Visual Impairment among Students in Disability–Inclusive Schools in Onitsha Anambra State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT Background: Visual impairment could limit learning and development among school students. Identifying of causes of visual impairment would facilitate planning eye care of students in disability-inclusive schools. Objective: To determine the causes of visual impairment among students in disability-inclusive schools in Onitsha, Anambra, State Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A comparative study of visually-impaired and normally-sighted students. Study participants who were matched for educational level, age, and gender were selected in the ratio of one visually-impaired student to 4 normally-sighted students. The study tools included interviewer-administered questionnaire, visual acuity measurement, refraction, ocular examination. Results: There were 3 disability-inclusive schools in Onitsha from which 50 students comprising all the 10 visually-impaired students and 40 normally-sighted counterparts were studied. There were 3 females and 7 male visually-impaired students and 12 females and 28 normally-sighted students; the age range was 10 – 24 years; median – 17 years. All the visually-impaired students were blind and optical aids could not improve their vision. Four (10.0%) normally-sighted students had low vision in their better eyes and another 2 (5.0%) mild visual impairment. Cataract, buphthalmos, retinal diseases and congenital ocular malformation were the causes of visual loss in the visually-impaired students; among the normally-sighted students’ vernal conjunctivitis and ametropia were the ocular problems. Conclusions: Most causes of ocular morbidity in both visually-impaired and normally-sighted student studied are avoidable. There is need for primary eye care services in the schools. Eye examination as part of pre-admission requirements is recommended. The visually-impaired students should be referred to ophthalmologists.