THE TREND OF OPTOMETRIC DIAGNOSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN THE IIUM OPTOMETRY CLINIC

Abstract

Introduction: The study aimed to identify the type and frequencies of optometric diagnoses in IIUM Optometry Clinic, Indera Mahkota Campus (IMC) in Semester 2 2016/2017. The relationship between age, gender and ethnicity with the three most common optometric diagnoses in IIUM Optometry Clinic has been studied. The management given in IIUM Optometry Clinic was also recorded. Methods: The study involved 223 subjects aged between 1 to 80 years old and gender independent. This study used universal sampling and retrospective design. Age, gender, race, diagnosis, and management of patients were noted from the case records. Some of the patients had more than one diagnosis. Hence, the diagnoses were more than the number of patients examined. Results: The top three classifications of optometric diagnoses were refractive problems (217, 45.2%), ocular diseases (198, 41.2%) and vergence problems (26, 5.4%). From these three classifications, they were divided into their own specific diagnoses in which myopia (96, 20.0%) was found to be the most common diagnosis followed by dry eyes (91, 19.0%) and convergence insufficiency (14, 2.9%). From the chi-square test, the results revealed a significant association between age with myopia (p=0.029) and dry eyes (p=0.022). The three most common management given were refractive management (226, 43.8%), prescribing artificial tears (77, 14.9%) and patient education (71, 13.8%). Conclusions: In conclusion, since refractive errors remain the leading cause of global visual impairment, better intervention strategies can be planned and implemented, especially in visual screening. A higher occurrence of certain cases can encourage optometrists to be very competent in managing the case.