Astigmatism, important finding in populations from Bogotá and Cundinamarca

Abstract

This descriptive investigation looked for the prevalence of astigmatism in 2 health institutions of Bogota and 3 of Cundinamarca from March 2006 to February 2007. It includes 813 patients who visited the optometry and ophthalmology services of the Rafael Uribe Uribe Hospital, San Camilo Health Center of Bogota, El Salvador Hospital in Ubaté, San Rafael in Girardot and Mario Gaitán Yanguas in Soacha, Cundinamarca, by means of optometric clinical examination, collecting the information in clinical history; previous standardization of the test. As result of this research, the observed prevalence of the astigmatism was 57% in the group from 0 to 17 years followed by the group from 18 to 35 years in 56%. The prevalence genus showed a small difference between men and women by 50.1% and 50.7% respectively. According to the socioeconomic layer was more prevalent the layer 1 with 52.1% and the second one was the layer 3, being 51% its prevalence. In conclusion, astigmatism appears mainly in young people in school age and of low socioeconomic layers: It is why policy must focus to improve their quality of life.