Abstract:AIM:To explore and understand prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision of population in Kongtong district of Pingliang city,Gansu Province.METHODS:With application of cross-sectional study of the epidemiological investigation methods,and taking the village(community)as basis,six townships and two subdistrict offices were taken as the survey locations based on the principle of random cluster sampling.Useing the blind and low vision standards by World Health Organization,the region was sampled by 0.719 percent sample proportion for the epidemiology survey of blindness and low vision.RESULTS:A total of 3235 people enrolled in,2801 people received checkup,accounting for 86.58%.21 people were bilateral blindness,with blind rate of 0.75%(male 0.59%,female 0.91%).125 people were low vision,with prevalence of 4.46%(male 3.73%,female 5.16%).Patients of age≥ 60 years had significantly higher prevalence of blindness and low vision.The top three causes of blindness were cataract(47.62%),corneal diseases(14.29%),and glaucoma(14.29%).CONCLUSION:Cataract is in the first place of blindness and low vision eye disease in the population of Kongtong district,so the surgical treatment of cataract remains the primary task of the prevention of blindness in the future.
