Clinic-based burden of glaucoma among Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps.
Glaucoma found in 13.3% of Sahrawi refugees seeking eye care.
Clinic-based burden of glaucoma among Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps.
To estimate the clinic-based frequency of glaucoma among Sahrawi refugees attending humanitarian ophthalmology missions in the Tindouf camps (Algeria), to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with glaucoma and to contextualise the clinic-based frequency of other ophthalmic diseases.
We conducted a clinic-based cross-sectional study among Sahrawi refugees during Médicos del Mundo ophthalmology missions.
checks for eye pressure and nerve damage found glaucoma in 1 of every 8 patients
A total of 900 symptomatic care-seeking individuals were examined (56% men; median age 70 years).
After standardisation, the estimated clinic-based frequency was 6.7% (95% CI 3.8% to 9.7%).
Older age was independently associated with glaucoma (adjusted OR per year 1.02; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.03; p=0.003).
Cataract was the most common coexisting diagnosis (59.8%), followed by keratopathy (9.1%) and retinopathy (3.4%).
Glaucoma represents a substantial clinic-based burden among symptomatic Sahrawi refugees attending humanitarian missions, with a high proportion of irreversible visual loss.
Other ophthalmic conditions were common but functioned as coexisting causes of visual impairment in this care-seeking sample.