Causes of Childhood Blindness among Students of Blind's School in Shiraz, Iran

Causes of blindness in children vary according to the region and socioeconomic development. Within a given country these causes vary with passage of time. This reflects different levels of socioeconomic development and provision of healthcare services. This cross-sectional study was undertaken to estimate the major causes of severe visual impairment in children and specially preventable and curable blindness in southern Iran. 145 students of Shiraz Blinds'' School, Shiraz, Iran, interviewed, examined and their medical documents reviewed. Causes of visual loss were analyzed according to involved anatomic area. 145 students (290 eyes) were examined (53.1% girls and 46.9% boys), among which 42.1% had vision of no light perception. Eye dysgenesis was found in 21.4%, glaucoma in 15.9%, lens associated visual loss in 6.2%, optic nerve lesions in1.4%, retinal problems in 54.48% and corneal problems in less than 1%. Sixty five students had retinitis pigmentosa, which was the single commonest cause of visual loss. The major cause of childhood blindness in this region is retinitis pigmentosa, followed by microphtalmia, eye dysgenesis and congenital glaucoma. Large proportion of these blind children had a positive history of consanguineous marriage in their parents and this seemed to be the most probable cause of increased frequency of genetic causes of childhood blindness.