Prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment in Kogi State, Nigeria: findings from a rapid assessment of avoidable blindness survey

Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment among adults in Kogi, Nigeria. A rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) protocol was used with additional tools measuring disability and household wealth, to measure the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment (VI) and associations with sex, disability, wealth, cataract surgical coverage and its effectiveness.

Age and sex-adjusted all-cause prevalence of bilateral blindness was 3.6% (95%CI 3.0–4.2%), prevalence of blindness among people living with additional, non-visual disabilities was 38.3% (95% CI 29.0–48.6%) compared to 1.6% (95%CI 1.2–2.1%; = 771.9, p<0.001) among people without additional disabilities.

Cataracts were the principal cause of bilateral blindness (55.3%). Cataract surgical coverage was lower among females, people with disabilities, and people with less household wealth compared to males, people without disabilities, and those with more household wealth.