CAUSES OF BLINDNESS AND SEVERE VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN CHILDREN IN CHILE

Three hundred and eighteen of 421 children (76 per cent) registered in Chile's 10 schools for the blind were examined. 84 per cent of these had severe visual loss (severe visual impairment or blindness), which was attributable to hereditary factors in 29.6 per cent, intra-uterine factors in 8.2 per cent, perinatal factors in 22.5 per cent and child hood factors in 11.2 per cent. The aetiology could not be determined i n 28.5 per cent. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) accounted for 17.6 p er cent of all children with severe visual loss; analysis of data by a ge-group suggested that ROP is becoming an increasingly important caus e of blindness. It is estimated that one-half of the children with sev ere visual loss in Chile have avoidable causes of blindness. The findi ngs are discussed in the light of possible control strategies.