Publications by authors named "Ravilla D Thulasiraj"
Purpose: To identify factors affecting family members' decision whether to donate eye organs.
Methods: A community-based case-control study based on in-home interviews with families of deceased individuals who had or had not donated eye organs, in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India. Data collected were knowledge and awareness of eye donations, whether the deceased individual had expressed or pledged willingness to donate, and family members' attitudes and willingness to donate their own eye organs.
Background: Previous authors have suggested that an afferent pupillary defect (APD) may serve as an effective screening tool for some specific eye diseases, especially glaucomatous optic neuropathy, since the disease usually presents asymmetrically. Its success as a screening tool for glaucoma has never been previously prospectively evaluated in a large population.
Methods: In this study, the authors carry out assessments for the presence of APD as it relates to the diagnosis of glaucoma in an existing population-based eye study in southern India.
Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of uveitis in rural Tamil Nadu, India.
Methods: Cluster sampling identified a population-based sample of 5150 persons ages 40 years and older, representative of three districts in Tamil Nadu, India. Each received a comprehensive dilated ocular examination by an ophthalmologist, and results were registered on forms requiring responses about the presence of ocular inflammatory signs and inflammatory diagnoses.
Background: Exposure to indoor air pollution due to open burning of biomass fuel is common in low- and middle-income countries. Previous studies linked this exposure to an increased risk of respiratory illness, low birth weight (LBW) and other disorders. We assessed the association between exposure to biomass fuel sources and second-hand tobacco smoke (SHTS) in the home and adverse health outcomes in early infancy in a population in rural south India.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with maternal night blindness in rural South India.
Methods: At delivery, women enrolled in a population-based trial of newborn vitamin A supplementation were asked whether they were night blind at any time during the pregnancy. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify socioeconomic, demographic, and pregnancy-related factors associated with maternal night blindness.
Purpose: To describe the methodology and baseline data for the Antioxidants in Prevention of Cataracts (APC) study in South India.
Methods: The APC study is a prospective, 5-year, randomized, triple-masked, placebo-controlled, field-based clinical trial to examine the effect of antioxidants (combination tablet of vitamins A, C, and E) on progression of cataract. The primary outcome variable is cataract progression (nuclear opalescence), evaluated with the slit-lamp biomicroscope by the Lens Opacification Classification System III method.
Purpose: To determine the impact of vision impairment and eye diseases on vision-specific quality of life and visual function in an older population of rural southern India.
Methods: Presenting and best-corrected visual acuity and burden of eye diseases were determined in a population aged 40 years and older, identified through a random cluster sampling strategy from 50 villages of rural south India. A questionnaire validated previously for use in this population was used to ascertain quality of life and visual function.
Purpose: To determine utilization of eye care services, in particular those relating to glaucoma, in a rural population of southern India aged 40 years or older.
Methods: A total of 5,150 subjects aged 40 years or older selected through a random cluster sampling technique from three districts in southern India underwent detailed ocular examinations for vision impairment, blindness, and ocular morbidity. Information regarding previous use of eye care services was collected from this population through a questionnaire administered by trained social workers prior to ocular examinations.
This study aimed to determine the impact of community-based rehabilitation on the quality of life of blind persons in a rural south Indian population. We performed a population-based survey followed by clinical examinations to identify blind persons in a rural south Indian population. Pre-and-post rehabilitation quality of life of 159 blind persons aged 15 years or above was ascertained through a questionnaire previously validated for use in this population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To determine the potential associations of female reproductive factors with age-related cataract, open-angle glaucoma, macular degeneration, and myopia in an older population of rural south India.
Methods: This was a population-based, cross-sectional study of older adults in rural south India identified through a cluster sampling technique. Histories relating to female reproductive factors were ascertained through a questionnaire administered by trained workers.
Purpose: To determine the rate of ocular trauma in a rural population of southern India and its impact on vision impairment and blindness.
Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study of 5150 persons 40 years or older in a randomly chosen rural population of 3 districts of southern India. Prospective information on trauma, type and agent of injury, setting of injury, and details of treatment sought for the last episode was recorded with questionnaires after face-to-face interviews.
Objective: To determine the magnitude of vitreoretinal disorders in a rural southern Indian population.
Methods: Cluster sampling was used to identify individuals 40 years and older in Tamil Nadu in southern India. Demographic details, vision measurement and refraction using logMAR charts, anterior segment slitlamp examination, dilated posterior segment slitlamp examination using a 78-diopter (D) lens, and indirect ophthalmoscopy using a 20-D lens were performed.
Purpose: To identify barriers in utilisation of community based rehabilitation (CBR) services for incurably blind persons in rural South India.
Methods: A community-based rehabilitation programme for incurably blind persons was initiated in Theni district of southern Tamil Nadu in south India. After door-to-door enumeration and preliminary ocular screening by trained workers at the village, identified blind persons were categorised as either curable or incurable by an ophthalmologist.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of lens opacities in an older population in rural southern India.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 5150 persons aged 40 years and more who were selected as part of a representative sample from three southern districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. All lenses were graded and classified for opacities and other disorders by slit lamp after pupillary dilation, using the Lens Opacification Classification System (LOCS) III and standard photographs.