Visual impairment in adult people with moderate, severe, and profound intellectual disability

Purpose. To assess visual impairment in, adults with intellectual disabilit y after de-institutionalisation. Patients. The county has a population of 385483 persons of 18 years and old er; 961 were moderately, severely or profoundly intellectually impaired (ID ), 837 of them (87%) participated in the investigation. Methods. Visual acuity, VA: Osterberg picture charts, and reduced copies fo r near vision could be used in 71% of the patients. Teller preferential loo king procedure was applied to people who were unable to cooperate with the picture charts. When examined with picture wall chart VA 0.3- greater than or equal to 0.10) was found in 10.8%, severe low vision in 1.2% (VA < 0.10- greater than or equal to 0.05), and blindness (VA < 0.05) in 3.8%. Poor ne ar vision (<0.3) was present in 19%. Those assessed with Teller acuity card s had poorer vision than the others. It is possible that the low values of assessment with Teller cards represent a combination of gnostic a resolutio n deficiences, which means that the results of grating VA and recognition V A are non-comparable. Ophthalmic Disorders The most widespread medical cond ition was cerebral visual impairment, the most frequent eye disorders were optic atrophy, high myopia, cataract, and keratoconus. Refraction: Refracti on was assessed in 710 persons (85%), the most prevalent cause of visual im pairment was uncorrected ametropia. Hypermetropia of > +1.50 was found in 1 51 of 710 subjects (21%), and spectacles were used by 106 (15%); myopia < - 1.0 was present in 213 individuals (30%), 95 persons (13%) had lenses < -1. 0. Conclusion. Resettled adult people with intellectual disability have a high prevalence of treatable visual impairment. A structured scheme of referral to optometric and ophthalmological care is essential if these people are t o be given the care to which they are entitled.