ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT CAUSES OF BLINDNESS AND VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN PAKISTANI POPULATION

Introduction: Pakistan, the sixth most populous country in the world, is a developing country situated in the World Health Organization's (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region. The evidence base on national blindness and visual impairment in Pakistan prior to this survey is extremely limited. One study, estimating the main cause of blindness to be cataract (66.7%). Aims and objectives: The basic aim of the study was to find the causes of blindness and visual impairment in Pakistani population. Methodology of the study: This study was conducted in Nishtar Hospital Multan during 2018 with the permission of ethical committee of hospital. The data was collected from the population of Multan. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire to find the reason and causes of blondness and visual impairment in Pakistani population. Multi‐stage stratified cluster random sampling, with probability proportional‐to‐size (PPS) procedures, was used. Enumeration, using the random walk method, was undertaken until the target number of adults was attained in each cluster. Results: A total of 17 314 adults (⩾30 years) were enumerated, 16 507 (95.3%) of whom were examined and included in this study. Of the study sample, 53.1% were women, their mean age being significantly lower than that of males (45.9 vs 48.9 years, respectively, p<0.001). Initially, all possible pathologies of a reduced visual acuity in eyes that presented with