Most common age-related ocular diseases among residents of owerri metropolis, imo state nigeria

Two hundred individuals whose ages ranged from forty years to eighty years, and above were used for the study. The aim of the study was to examine the eye-condition of the subjects with a view to finding out definitely, which of the age-related ocular diseases were most commonly suffered by residents of Owerri Metropolis. The One hundred and Ten (110) men and ninety (90) women that constituted the population probed responded with maximum co-operation while under investigation for both internal and external examinations carried out on them. The study revealed that the most common age-related ocular diseases suffered by the subjects who are residents of Owerri metropolis were glaucoma, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), and senile ectropion. Every individual subject aged seventy one (71) years and above was found to be living with one ocular disease or the other and some were even living with many of such diseases. Glaucoma was found to be most prevalent, being suffered by as high as 33% of the individuals investigated; while age-related macular degeneration was the least, affecting only 1.5% of individuals examined. Cataract, however, was found to be second major threat to normal vision among the subjects investigated, having affected about 24% of the subjects. It also sounds surprising to note that among the subjects investigated, the number of females affected by the most common age-related ocular diseases was more than that of the males affected. 69% of males, as opposed to 90% of females were affected.