Abstract

Purpose: To study the clinical profile of premature presbyopia in a tertiary care hospital.

Materials & Methods: Three sixty  patients with defective near vision below the age of 40 years who attended ophthalmology outpatient department at a tertiary care hospital during a period of 6 months were included in the study. Enrolled subjects underwent unaided visual acuity testing for distant vision using snellen’s chart and near vision chart. Refraction was performed by a trained refractionist and later on confirmed by a senior ophthalmologist. A detailed history of the patients was taken regarding their occupation, tobacco use, drug intake, glaucoma. hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Data was recorded and analyzed on SPSS

Results: The age range of patients included in the study was 30-40 years with a mean age of 37.5 years. Out of the 360 patients studied 32%(116) were males and 68%(244) were females. 60% patients included in the study were emmetropic for distance vision, 30 % were having hypermetropia and 10 % patients were myopic. 24 % patients in the present study were tobacco chewers and 40% were tobacco smokers. . In our study among the early presbyopes 15 (4.1%) patients had associated hypertension , 18 (5%) patients had diabetes, 12 (3%) patients  had glaucoma, 8(2.2%)patients were on anti psychotic medications and  5 (1.3%) patients had anaemia. 

Conclusion: Premature presbyopia is more commonly seen in females and preexisting hypermetropic refractive error is associated with early onset of hypermetropia. Systemic diseases (diabetes, hypertension), tobacco use, glaucoma and use of antipsychotic medications also cause early onset of presbyopia to some extent.

Keywords: Presbyopia, Hypermetropia, refractive error.