中国海南省三亜地区に在住する低所得農民層の失明実態

Current status about blindness among low-income farmers in Sanya district,Hainan,China

要約　目的：低所得農民層の失明について中国海南省三亜市で実施した調査の報告。対象と方法：指定された村落に住む50歳以上の841名のうち，呼びかけに応じた558名を対象とした。矯正視力0.05未満の状態を失明とした。結果：片眼または両眼失明者は102名で，50歳代では当該年齢層の7％，60歳代では28％，70歳では34％，80歳以上では41％であった。失明の原因では白内障が65％を占めていた。低視力は，50歳代では当該年齢層の3％，60歳代では15％，70歳では20％，80歳以上では25％であったが，全員が眼鏡なしで暮らしているため，60歳以上では33％以上がこれに該当していた。翼状片は72％にあった。糖尿病網膜症，高血圧，動脈硬化による網膜疾患，開放隅角緑内障が疑われた症例は少なかった。結論：中国南部の低所得農民の失明または低視力への対策として，白内障手術だけでなく，屈折矯正などの手段が必要である。

Abstract.　Purpose：To report the current status about blindness among low-income farmers in Sanya City,Hainan,China. Objects and Method：Invitation to health-check was issued to 841 persons over 50 years of age. A total of 558 persons accepted the invitation and were analyzed. An eye was defined as blind when best-corrected visual acuity was less than 0.05. Results：A total of 102 persons were blind in one or both eyes. The incidence was 7％ in the 50s,28％ in the 60s,34％ in the 70s,and 41％ in persons over 80 years of age. Cataract was the chief cause of blindness in 65％ of eyes. Low visual acuity was present in 3％ in the 50s,15％ in the 60s,20％ in the 70s,and 25％ in persons over 80 years of age. More than one-third of persons over 60 years fell within this category,because no one was using eyeglasses. Pterygium was present in 72％ of eyes. There were few instances of diabetic retinopathy,hypertensive retinopathy,arteriosclerosis,or open-angle glaucoma. Conclusion：Blindness or low vision is frequent among low-income farmers in southern China. They need multilateral approaches including eyeglasses and cataract surgery.