Indigenous blindness 'avoidable'

28 Sep 2009, 5:03 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A survey shows blindness is six times more common among Indigenous Australians even though they are born with better eyesight.

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Indigenous Australians are going blind at six times the rate of other Australians even though they are born with better eyesight, a new survey has found.

The national indigenous eye health survey found 1.9 per cent of indigenous adults suffered from blindness, 6.2 times higher than the rest of Australia's population.

The survey, led by the University of Melbourne's Indigenous Eye Health Unit, found the major causes of blindness in Aboriginal adults were cataracts (32 per cent), followed by refractive error (14 per cent), optic atrophy (14 per cent), trachoma (nine per cent) and diabetic eye disease (nine per cent).

It also found Aboriginal children were five times less likely to have vision loss than non-indigenous children.

Almost all the causes of blindness ‘are avoidable’

The survey's lead researcher Professor Hugh Taylor said Aborigines were born with better eyesight than non-indigenous babies. However, by the time they reached adulthood they were six times more likely to be blind and three times more likely to have low vision.

Almost all the causes of blindness were avoidable, Prof Taylor said.

"It is a national disgrace that more than 94 per cent of the vision loss associated with these eye diseases is preventable and treatable," Prof Taylor said.

"We have good eye care services in Australia, we have a good health system, we shouldn't have that sort of unmet need here," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Prof Taylor said current eye health services would be assessed to develop a plan to deliver better care to remote communities.

Trachoma a leading cause of blindness

The survey results, unveiled in Melbourne by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, found 35 per cent of Aboriginal adults had never had their eyes checked.

"We know there is a great shortage of the number of ophthalmologists and optometrists in these remote communities," Prof Taylor said.

"The best systems for delivering eye care have good coordination between visiting optometrists and visiting ophthalmologists working together as a team."

One of the leading causes of blindness, trachoma, was eliminated from mainstream Australia 100 years ago, Prof Taylor said.

Australia is the only developed country to still have the disease.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to eradicate it from indigenous communities.

Blinding cataracts were 12 times more common in indigenous adults but only 65 per cent of those needing surgery were operated on.

Thirty-six per cent of Aboriginal people with diabetes had diabetic eye disease, the survey found.

The survey data was collected across Australia from about 400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 30 communities.
 

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