Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 18;13(10):1652-1659.
doi: 10.18240/ijo.2020.10.21. eCollection 2020.

Profile of retinal diseases in adult patients attending two major eye clinics in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo

Nelly N Kabedi  1 , David L Kayembe  1 , Jean-Claude Mwanza  1   2
Affiliations

Profile of retinal diseases in adult patients attending two major eye clinics in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo

Nelly N Kabedi et al. Int J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Aim: To determine the frequency and types of retinal diseases and the extend of the related visual loss in adult patients attending two public eye clinics of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Methods: Review of medical records of patients with retinal diseases seen in the major eye clinics in Kinshasa, the University Hospital of Kinshasa (UHK) and Saint Joseph Hospital (SJH), from January 2012 to December 2014. Demographics and diagnoses were retrieved and analyzed. Outcome measures were frequency and prevalence of retinal diseases, blindness and low vision.

Results: A total of 40 965 patients aged 40y or older were examined during this period in both clinics. Of these, 1208 had retinal disease, giving a 3-year and an annual prevalence of 3% and 1%, respectively. Mean age was 61.7±10.7y, and 55.8% of the patients were males. Arterial hypertension (68.1%) and diabetes (43.3%) were the most common systemic comorbidities. Hypertensive retinopathy (41.8%), diabetic retinopathy (37.9%), age-related macular degeneration (AMD; 14.6%), and chorioretinitis and retinal vein occlusion (7.3% each) were the most common retinal diseases, with 3-year prevalence rates of 1.3%, 1.0%, 0.43%, and 0.21% respectively. Bilateral low vision and blindness were present in 26.8% and 8.4% of the patients at presentation. Major causes of low vision and blindness were diabetic retinopathy (14.8%), AMD (4.9%), retinal detachment (2.8%), and retinal vein occlusion (2.5%). The prevalence was significantly higher among males than females, and at the UHK than SJH.

Conclusion: Retinal diseases are common among Congolese adult patients attending eye clinics in Kinshasa. They cause a significant proportion of low vision and blindness.

Keywords: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; pattern; retinal disorders; sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Proportion of patients with retinal diseases per age group.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Proportion of systemic comorbidities in patienst with retinal disorders
aConditions observed in less than 1% each: rheumatism, HIV infection, kidney, failure, sinusitis, gastritis, asthrma, gout, tuterculosis, psychopathy, herniated disc, megacolon, tuberculosis, pituiatary adenoma, facial paralysis, meningoencephalitis, recurrent preeclampsia, and sickle cell anemia.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Proportion of patients with normal, low vision, and blindness among patients with retinal disorders.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Li J, Welchowski T, Schmid M, et al. Retinal disease in Europe. Prevalence, incidence and healthcare needs. Euretina. 2017:1–28.
    1. Bastawrous A, Mathenge W, Peto T, Shah N, Wing K, Rono H, Weiss HA, MacLeod D, Foster A, Burton M, Kuper H. Six-year incidence and progression of age-related macular degeneration in Kenya: nakuru eye disease cohort study. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135(6):631–638. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Flaxman SR, Bourne RRA, Resnikoff S, Ackland P, Braithwaite T, Cicinelli MV, Das A, Jonas JB, Keeffe J, Kempen JH, Leasher J, Limburg H, Naidoo K, Pesudovs K, Silvester A, Stevens GA, Tahhan N, Wong TY, Taylor HR, Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study Global causes of blindness and distance vision impairment 1990-2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(12):e1221–e1234. - PubMed
    1. Bastawrous A, Burgess PI, Mahdi AM, Kyari F, Burton MJ, Kuper H. Posterior segment eye disease in sub-Saharan Africa: review of recent population-based studies. Trop Med Int Health. 2014;19(5):600–609. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Eze BI, Uche JN, Shiweobi JO. The burden and spectrum of vitreo-retinal diseases among ophthalmic outpatients in a resource-deficient tertiary eye care setting in South-eastern Nigeria. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. 2010;17(3):246–249. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources