ABSTRACT

Ocular morbidity is defined as the spectrum of eye diseases which includes both visually impairing and non-visual impairing conditions, experienced by a population.

The visually impairing ocular morbidity is a major public health problem. Cataract, glaucoma, refractive error and diabetic retinopathy are the major causes of blindness, non-blinding ocular diseases are allergic and infective conjunctivitis, dry eye syndrome, mild refractive error and presbyopia. There is limited evidence about the pattern of ocular morbidity in the University of Benin community, this study thus aims to show the trend of ocular morbidities with age amongst patients visiting the University of Benin optometry clinic. This retrospective study was conducted, using the convenient sampling technique to retrieve case notes of all new patients aged less than one year and above seen at the university's eye clinic within the period of January 2018 and June 2021. Information on patients age, sex presenting visual acuity and ocular diagnosis were reviewed and analysed. 2,697 patients case notes were retrieved, 45.3% of these patients were aged 20 years and below, 37.8% were aged from 21 to 40 years and 16.9% were above 40 years. The commonest ocular morbidity recorded was refractive error, (78.8%), followed by conjunctivitis (8.8%), and cataract (2.9%) both ocular pathologies. These disorders require attention of all eye care professionals for proper management or early referral because they can lead to visual impairment and blindness. Health education is necessary for the prevention of all ocular morbidity detected as well as early presentation of patients to eye care centers for the treatment of eye disorders.