Incidence of acute eye diseases amongst pilgrims during hajj 2016 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Objective: To estimate the incidence and distribution of common acute eye diseases amongst pilgrims during Hajj 2016 in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia by age, nationality and gender. Method: An exploratory descriptive cross-sectional incidence survey was done. We surveyed about156 patients who presented to the ophthalmology clinic at the 3 main hospitals: Al-Noor Hospital, King Faisal Hospital, and King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah city, during the time period of 2/09/2015 to 15/09/2016 (1/12/1437H to 14/12/1437 H). Patients received thorough eye examination and management. The diagnostic data was used to gather information which was analyzed by statistical tools, to estimate the incidence of acute eye conditions among a wide range of age, nationality and gender amongst pilgrims. Results: 156 patients attended the eye clinics in two of the above listed hospital, out of which 102 (65.4%) were males and 54(34.6) were females. Among these patients 124 of them were above the age group of 36 years. 75 of them belong to the Middle East. The commonest diagnosis was Simple Conjunctivitis (26 patients-16.7%). Retinal detachment and Blepharitis was diagnosed in 8 patients (5.1%), followed by ulcerative keratitis and glaucoma in 6 cases (3.8%). Remaining of the patients fell into other non specific category, like dry eyes, pterygium, corneal foreign body and refractive error. Conclusions: Majority of the patients had non-specific infections of the eye. There was no incidence of spurt of contagious eye infections. An extensive study is required including all the primary clinics catering the hajj pilgrims, and the duration of the study must be more than 2 weeks which was in this study.