Prevalence and Causes of Visual Impairment Among Inmates of Prison in Tanzania

Background: Ocular disorders are among the causes of morbidity necessitating frequent attendance for medical care worldwide. Prisoners, like any other person, are prone to suffer from any ocular disorder and sometimes are at increased risk of morbidity and visual impairment due to challenges related to access to health care in a prison environment. According to the World Health Organization report on vision, about 2.2 billion people have visual impairment and blindness. The commonest cause of visual impairment among them is uncorrected refractive errors. Objective: To determine the prevalence and causes of visual impairment among inmates of Isanga prison inDodoma city, Tanzania. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study employed systematic sampling technique to recruit 274 inmates of Isanga prison in Dodoma city. Data was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 (SPSS 23). Ethical approval was granted by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences Institutional Review Board. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Commissioner General of Isanga Prison. Results: Out of 274 study participants, 85% of them were males with a median age of 45 years. Visual impairment was found in 8% of participants, where 71% had moderate visual impairment. Optic neuropathy was the leading cause (52%) of visual impairment followed by glaucoma and cataract 19% each. Increasing age was the only factor associated with visual impairment in univariate, but not in multivariate analysis.Conclusion: There was a significant proportion of inmates with visual impairment and the leading causes of visual impairment were optic neuropathy and glaucoma.