Blindness Registers as Epidemiological Tools for Public Health Planning: A Case Study in Belize
Table 2
Causes of registration for blindness and low vision rehabilitation by the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI) based on data from all actively registered individuals () as of December 31, 2009.
Cataract Number (%)
Glaucoma Number (%)
Diabetic retinopathy Number (%)
Childhood blindnessa Number (%)
Age-related macular degeneration Number (%)
Uncorrected refractive error Number (%)
Otherb Number (%)
Totalc Number (%)
Overall
472 (39.6)
248 (20.8)
121 (10.2)
112 (9.4)
14 (1.2)
7 (0.6)
217 (18.2)
1191 (100)
Gender
Male
232 (39.9)
135 (23.2)
36 (6.2)
58 (10.0)
4 (0.7)
2 (0.3)
115 (19.8)
582 (100)
Female
240 (39.4)
113 (18.6)
85 (14.0)
54 (8.9)
10 (1.6)
5 (0.8)
102 (16.8)
610 (100)
Age at registration
0–4
4 (4.1)
10 (10.2)
0 (0)
64 (65.3)
0 (0)
0 (0)
20 (20.4)
98 (100)
5–15
8 (8.8)
9 (9.9)
2 (2.2)
41 (45.1)
1 (1.1)
4 (4.4)
26 (28.6)
91 (100)
16–39
18 (16.4)
15 (13.6)
15 (13.6)
6 (5.5)
0 (0)
2 (1.8)
54 (49.1)
110 (100)
40–49
44 (35.5)
34 (27.4)
18 (14.5)
0 (0)
1 (0.8)
0 (0)
27 (21.8)
124 (100)
50+
398 (51.9)
180 (23.5)
85 (11.1)
1 (0.1)
12 (1.6)
1 (0.1)
90 (11.7)
767 (100)
District of residence
Belize
142 (33.3)
120 (28.2)
50 (11.7)
35 (8.2)
9 (2.1)
1 (0.2)
69 (16.2)
426 (100)
Cayo
80 (41.0)
31 (15.9)
18 (9.2)
19 (9.7)
0 (0)
0 (0)
47 (24.1)
195 (100)
Corozal
67 (51.9)
15 (11.6)
18 (14.0)
13 (10.1)
0 (0)
0 (0)
16 (12.4)
129 (100)
Orange Walk
69 (39.2)
37 (21.0)
16 (9.1)
15 (8.5)
1 (0.6)
4 (2.3)
34 (19.3)
176 (100)
Stann Creek
23 (19.8)
30 (25.9)
17 (14.7)
15 (12.9)
2 (1.7)
2 (1.7)
27 (23.3)
116 (100)
Toledo
91 (61.1)
15 (10.1)
2 (1.3)
15 (10.1)
2 (1.3)
0 (0)
24 (16.1)
149 (100)
“Childhood blindness” includes congenital cataract, congenital glaucoma, retinopathy of prematurity, and any entity designed as “corneal” or “retinal” in those under the age of 15.
bThe “other” designation includes trauma, tumor, uveitis, retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, and other corneal and retinal pathologies in individuals over the age of 15.
cTotals do not match the overall total study population number due to missing data.
