StemCell Therapy

Study illustrates late consultations and socio-economic factors as reasons behind rise in retinopathy of prematurity

Almost 47 per cent of children studying at blind schools in the state have developed visual impairment due to ill-developed eyesight at the birth, a study by city-based hospital has said. The survey that was carried over two years by HV Desai Eye Hospital, Hadapsar, also revealed that blindness among 32 per cent children could have been treated early on and around 15 per cent students were not visually impaired, leaving scope for improvement.

The scrutiny also pointed at the changing causes of the impairment that have altered with socio-economic progress. Col M Deshpande, chief medical director of HV Desai Eye Hospital, said that causes of blindness in children are proxy indicator of the health system of the country and hence the economic progress that a country is making. For example, unavoidable causes (such as blindness due to brain hypoxia) are common in western countries while Vitamin A deficiency related blindness is common in African countries, he said.

Dr Suchetra Kulkarni, principal investigator, said, The whole globe anomaly (ill-developed eyesight at birth) is the major cause of blindness followed by corneal and retinal causes that amount to 15 per cent each and cataract caused the impairment in eight per cent of the kids. Furthermore, every third child was impaired owing to reasons that could have been treated.

When the data was compared with studies conducted by HV Desais team 15 years ago, it showed that blindness due to vit (Vitamin A deficiency), is decreasing. However, cases of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is increasing. This indicates success of governments Vitamin A programme for pregnant mothers as well as their kids has worked. But, it also implies that government now needs to tackle blindness due to ROP observed in premature babies, she, said.

Such recommendations have been sent to the state and central governments, especially concerning ROP.

Dr Kulkarni further stated more doctors need to be trained to manage cataract and ROP and highlighted the need to procure highly specialised equipment to manage these impairments. Awareness among society and teachers, affirming that not all visually impaired children are completely blind, is important. Timely examination can identify children who can see better with low-vision devices, she added.

Dr Aditya Kelkar, phacoemulsification and vitreoretina surgeon at National Institute of Ophthalmology (NIO), blamed late consultation for rising problems. ROP are high in babies born out of consanguineous marriage. Problems like micro-cornea or ill-developed eye that can be detected during prenatal check-up due to latest screening facilities available now. However, still the disease like night blindness can go undetected. There are families that dont consult doctors on time even if the child has a squint or white patches on their eyes, he said.

The study conducted by experts will improve the situation, believes Dr Sanjay Patil, eye surgeon at Patil Eye Hospital. He further explained why the problems have increases in babies, especially the ones that are born premature of through in-vitro fertilisation. Newborns that receive intensive neonatal care in which they are given oxygen therapy due to premature development of their lungs develop ROP. Some doctors have even decreased the concentration of oxygen. A newborn baby goes undiagnosed of ROP if he/she is not referred to an ophthalmologist. The patients with ROP and cataract can be preventable with early diagnose and treatment, said Patil.

More:
Causes of blindness in babies are changing - Pune Mirror

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