Pacientes oftalmológicos en la isla del Hierro

Abstract

Purpose: Firstly, to appraise the distribution of the ophthalmological pathology on El Hierro island and secondly to assess the most frequent reasons why patients were sent to a tertiary hospital. Material and Method: The first study takes in all the patients who went to the Nuestra Señora de los Reyes Hospital seeking ophthalmological attention in the four months between the 1st February and 31st May 1997. The second study includes all the patients who , under medical prescription, were moved to Tenerife throughout 1997. Results: 322 patients, whose average age was 46.5 (DE = 19.6) were seen . The average visual accuracy was 0.55. Of all the patients, only 5 had a intraocular pressure greater then 20 mmHg. The most frequent cause of consultation was the periodic ophthalmic check-up followed by refractive problems, lessening of visual accuracy, red eye and headaches. As to the final diagnosis, the most common were ametropía, test within normal limits, conjunctival infections, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. In spite of the facilities of the ophthalmology service, 107 patients were sent for treatment to Tenerife in the period from 10-January-97 to 10-January-98 . The most frequent reasons for the move were for both therapeutic reasons (to undergo surgery or to receive an argon laser session) and diagnostic (to have an angiofluoresceingraphy and visual field test). Conclusions: 39.1 % of the patients were attending a periodic check-up without having ocular symptoms yet we found that only 15.5 % were within the normal limits. Therefore, 25 % of supposeoly healthy patients were diagnosed some ophthalmic complaint of a diverse nature.