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Higher risk of probable mental emotional disorder in low or severe vision subjects

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Background: Severe visual impairments are able to induce psychological stress, especially among adults, which may stimulate mental emotional disorder (MED). Eye health problems are not a health problem priority in Indonesia. This paper presents an assessment of severe visual impairments related to the risk of MED.

Methods: This paper assessed a part of Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) 2007 data. For this assessment, subjects 15 years old or more had their visual acuity measured using the Snellen chart and their mental health status determined using the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) 20. A subject was considered to have probable MED if the subject had a total score of 6 or more on the SRQ. Based on the measure of visual acuity, visual acuity was divided into 3 categories: normal/mild (20/20 to 20/60); low vision (less than 20/60 to 3/60); and blind (less than 3/60 to 0/0).

Results: Among 972,989 subjects, 554,886 were aged 15 years or older. 11.4% of the subjects had probable MED. The prevalence of low vision and blindness was 5.1% and 0.9%, respectively. Compared to subjects with normal or mild visual impairments, subjects with low vision had a 74% increased risk for probable MED [adjusted relative risk (RRa)=1,75; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1,71-1,79]. Blind subjects had a 2.7-fold risk to be probable MED (RRa=2.69; 95% CI=2.60-2.78] compared to subjects with normal or mild visual impairments.
Conclusion: Visual impairment severity increased probable MED risk. Therefore, visual impairment subjects need more attention on probable MED. (Health Science Indones 2011;2:9-13)

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Series Title

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Health Science Journal of Indonesia, Vol. 2 (1) 20

Publisher

Jakarta : Sekretariat Badan Litbangkes., 2011

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ISBN/ISSN

2087-7021

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Subject(s)

mental disorders

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