Rabiu M M, Kyari F
International Centre for Eye Health, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College, London.
Niger J Med. 2002 Jan-Mar;11(1):6-8.
Childhood blindness is second only to cataract in magnitude of world blindness when the "blind years" is considered. The "blind years" is the number of years a person lives with blindness. Studies have shown that over 34%-69% of childhood blindness in Nigeria is caused by corneal opacity, which results mainly from an interplay of vitamin A deficiency, measles and harmful traditional eye practices. However, vitamin A deficiency which manifests in the eye as xerophthalmia is the dominant problem in these children. The purpose of this review is to stress the importance of xerophthalmia, which is of public health significance, as an important cause of childhood blindness in Nigeria. Studies involving surveys of xerophthalmia, childhood and nutritional blindness are reviewed with data extracted from a nationwide survey on prevalence of xerophthalmia. The likely explanation for vitamin A deficiency in Nigerian children is discussed with possible solutions and recommendations made to control this avoidable and devastating cause of blindness.
从“盲年”角度考虑，儿童失明在全球失明问题的严重程度上仅次于白内障。“盲年”指一个人失明后生活的年数。研究表明，尼日利亚超过34%-69%的儿童失明是由角膜混浊引起的，而角膜混浊主要是由维生素A缺乏、麻疹以及有害的传统眼部习俗相互作用导致的。然而，在眼睛中表现为干眼症的维生素A缺乏是这些儿童的主要问题。本综述的目的是强调干眼症作为尼日利亚儿童失明的一个重要原因的重要性，干眼症具有公共卫生意义。对涉及干眼症、儿童和营养性失明调查的研究进行了综述，并从全国性干眼症患病率调查中提取了数据。讨论了尼日利亚儿童维生素A缺乏的可能原因，并提出了控制这种可避免的、毁灭性失明原因的可能解决方案和建议。
