Iranian Journal of Military Medicine Winter 2011, Volume 12, Issue 4; 235-240 * Correspondence; Email: h.ojaghi@arums.ac.ir Received 2008/11/29; Accepted 2010/09/25 Level of visual disorders in clients referred to medical exemption commission of Alavi hospital in Ardabil Ojaghi H. * MD, Masoumi R. 1 MD, Chegini A. R. 1 MD * Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Ardebil University of Medical Sciences, Ardebil, Iran; 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Ardebil University of Medical Sciences, Ardebil, Iran Abstract Aims: Visual disorders have recently become a matter of concern for World Health Organization. Since most clients of military medical ophthalmic commission are young, assessment of visual disorders is very important in this group. This study was performed in order to determine the frequency distribution of common visual disorders among people who refer to military medical ophthalmic commission of Ardabil province. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on all patients of Alavi Ophthalmology Clinic of Ardabil during years 2000-5 who referred to Medical Exemption Commission. 5203 people were studied and the data registered in medical files were collected in a questionnaire and were analyzed by SPSS 13 software. Chi-square test was used for comparison of qualitative variables. Results: 4935 (94.84%) of clients had a kind of visual disorder. 94% had refractive errors from which 33.8% were mild, 48% were moderate, and 18% were severe. 3413 (65.6%) of patients had myopia and 1479 (28.4%) had hyperopia. 4806 (92.37%) of patients had astigmatism and 35.15% had anisometropia. Corneal disease (1.07%), strabismus (0.99%) and cataract (0.78%) were other major visual disorders. Conclusion: Special refractive errors lead to exemption from military service and most of referees despite having refractive disorders are summoned to military service; therefore, determining the prevalence of refractive errors and visual disorders may be useful in major defensive programs for military medicine authorities. Retrospective evaluation of the above results may also be useful in Amblyopia preventing programs. Keywords: Visual Disorder, Refractive Disorders, Myopia, Hyperopia, Medical Exemption Commission Introduction Visual disorders are one of the health problems which have recently been of particular interest by the World Health Organization. High prevalence of visual disorders in developing countries of Africa and Asia is not due to the inability of ophthalmoscopy staff in medical diagnosis, but the major problem is inability of national health care systems in providing appropriate prevention methods and treatment [1]. About 90% of blind and low sighted people live in developing countries of Africa and Asia and 80% of these cases are preventable and curable [2]. During the past 50 years, the pattern of blindness and sightlessness has changed due to: improving living standards, personal hygiene, increasing awareness, increasing longevity and advances in treatment methods [3]. In many countries, refractive disorder is the second cause of curable blindness after cataract. Also, refractive disorder is the most common cause of visual disorder [4, 5] and therefore, it has harmful effects, especially on the young and active society. Since most clients refer to the military medical ophthalmic clinic are young, considering the visual disorders in this age range both in terms of diagnosis and prevention programs is very important. Since youth of this age range are in the beginning to meet various social environments (such as military service, universities, labor market etc.), understanding these disorders and giving information, increasing the awareness of community and professional examinations in younger ages can prevent many disorders and if treated or non- treated disorder appears, it is possible to select healthy people for different community sections with some kind of screening. Also, if military period or his selected job is harmful for him, in order to prevent progression or probable effects of disorder, his exemption and prohibiting should be done, not only for considering his health condition, but also for prevention or minimalism of additional future costs that may be imposed on him or system. Thus the overall efficiency of society will be increased. This study was performed in order to determine the frequency distribution of common visual disorders in military medical ophthalmic commission clients in Ardebil province. [ Downloaded from militarymedj.ir on 2021-12-07 ] 1 / 6