2023 Volume 53 Pages 79-84
【Purpose】For more effective low-vision care in the future, we investigated the actual state of application for vision aids.
【Subjects and Methods】Subjects were 158 patients from the Department of Ophthalmology at Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center who had applied for vision aids between January 2018 and December 2020. Subjects' age distribution, sex, primary disease, grade of disability, type of disability described on the physical disability certificate, type of aids applied, number of aids applied concerning disease type and disability grade, and the average number of applications for each patient were all investigated.
【Results】Subjects' mean age was 64.6±16.9 years with 67.7% of the subjects aged 60 or older. Males and females accounted for 55.1％ and 44.9%, respectively. The most frequent primary disease was retinal pigmentary degeneration in 26.0%, followed by glaucoma in 24.7% and diabetic retinopathy in 19.0%. The disability grades were grade I in 20.8%, II in 45.6%, III in 7.0%, IV in 9.5%, V in 14.6%, and VI in 2.5%. The types of disability described on the certificate included “visual impairment/visual field defect” in 36.1%, “visual field defect” in 38.6%, and “visual impairment” in 25.3%. The total number of applications for prosthesis, 4 optical aids (correcting glasses, absorptive glasses, contact lenses, glasses for amblyopia), and white canes was 293. Of 293, applications for absorptive glasses accounted for 50.5% followed by applications for white canes (33.2%). In all disease types, the most frequent applications were for absorptive glasses and white canes. Concerning the disability grade, a larger number of applications were from the grade I/II subjects with severe disabilities. All the subjects from grade I to VI applied for aids and the mean number of applications per person was 1.9.
【Conclusion】Needs for absorptive glasses and white canes were high regardless of the disease type. This suggests the importance of photophobia and gait assessment in low- vision care. Assuming patients may need different types of vision aids regardless of their disease types and disability grades, patients should be encouraged to make a plurality of applications for vision aids.
