[Analysis of factors causing visual disability and its preventive measures in China]

Analysis of sampling data from Chinese people in 1987 showed prevalence of visual disability was 10.08/1000. Major factors causing visual disability were congenital or hereditary defects, ametropia, amblyopia and corneal disease in children aged 0-14 years; senile cataract, trachoma and corneal disease in the elderly people aged 60 and over; and ametropia, amblyopia, cataract and corneal disease in the other people. Glaucoma and eye trauma were two major causes leading to severe visual disability. Suggestion of three-level prevention for visual disability in the country was put forward by the authors with focus on primary prevention, including genetic counselling and health care in pregnancy, preventing from eye infection and trauma, and active treatment of primary diseases, such as diabetes.