A Study of Causes of Visual Disability and Applications for Blindness Certificates at a Tertiary Care Centre in Central Maharashtra

Background and Objectives: As there was no data regarding the causes of visual impairment and blindness in adults and children in the local population, a study was undertaken to analyze the causes of visual impairment (VI) and blindness in adults and children through applications for blindness certificates at a large government hospital in Central Maharashtra. Material and Methods: All applications for blindness certificates received from January 2018 to December 2019 were analyzed to identify the main causes of VI and blindness in adults and children separately. In the process of categorization of the applicants while ascertaining the percentage of disability, the guidelines given by Government of India (category 0‐4; 20‐100%) were followed. Results: We analyzed data from 310 patients with a mean age of 33.5 ± 19.7 years (range = 2 – 82 years) with maximum patients between the 16‐30 years age group. Males (n=189, 61%) were more common. The commonest cause of VI was phthisis bulbi which counted for 13% of the causes while Retinitis pigmentosa (11%) and microphthalmos (10%) were the second and third commonest causes of VI in patients applying for blindness certificates. In children aged 15 years or younger, microphthalmos (14%) and amblyopia (14%) were by far the commonest cause of VI. In terms of categories of blindness, majority were in Category 3 (n=214, 69%) while Category 2 had 49 (16%) patients and category 1 had 47 (15%) patients. In the younger age group of 0-15 years, patients had overall lower percentage of disability and fell in category 1 more often (42%) as compared to category 2 and 3 (16% each). Conclusion: Data from applications of blindness disability certificates provides an important source of information regarding the different causes of VI and blindness.