Causes of Childhood Blindness among Students of Blinds' School in Shiraz, Iran

Background: causes of blindness in children vary accordingto the region and socioeconomic development. within a givencountry these causes vary with passage of time. this reflectsdifferent levels of socioeconomic development and provisionof health care services. this cross-sectional study was undertakento estimate the major causes of severe visual impairmentin children and specially preventable and curable blindness insouthern iran.methods: 145 students of shiraz blinds' school, shiraz, iran,interviewed, examined and their medical documents reviewed.causes of visual loss were analyzed according to involvedanatomic area.results: 145 students (290 eyes) were examined (53.1 % girlsand 46.9% boys), among which 42.1 % had vision of no lightperception. eye dysgenesis was found in 21.4%, glaucoma in15.9%, lens associated visual loss in 6.2%, optic nerve lesionsin1.4%, retinal problems in 54.48% and corneal problems inless than 1%. sixty five students had retinitis pigmentosa,which was the single commonest cause of visual loss.conclusion: the major cause of childhood blindness in thisregion is retinitis pigmentosa, followed by microphtalmia, eyedysgenesis and congenital glaucoma. large proportion ofthese blind children had a positive history of consanguineousmarriage in their parents and this seemed to be the most probablecause of increased frequency of genetic causes of childhoodblindness.