K Tornqvist, J Blohmé
University Hospital of Lund, Department of Ophthalmology, Lund, Sweden
In 1990 an epidemiological study on visual impairment in Swedish children and adolescents was initiated. The project is still running and data are continuously updated. At present we have data on approximately 2700 visually impaired individuals, 0-19 years of age, and with a visual acuity of <=0,3 and/or with a simultaneous visual field defect. This gives an age-specific prevalence of visual impairment of 12/10 000. A total of 60% of the individuals have additional impairments, most often a combination of motor and mental impairment.
Etiological factors have, in concordance with previous studies from other Nordic countries, been classified as 1) prenatal, 2) peri-neonatal 3) infantile/juvenile and 4) unknown.. Prenatal etiological factors are found in a total of 65% of the individuals and peri-neonatal factors in 20%.
The most frequently occurring diagnoses are cerebral visual impairment, congenital malformations and optic atrophy.
Almost 40 % of the individuals have a visual acuity >=0,1 (i.e are found in category 1 according to the WHO-classification of visual impairment) whereas 16% have a visual acuity <0,02 i.e belong to categories 4 and 5 in the classification mentioned above.
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