Risk factors for age related cataract in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Study.

Aim: To determine risk factors for lens opacities and age related cataract in an older rural population of southern India.

Methods: A cross sectional population based study of 5150 people aged 40 years and above from 50 clusters from three districts in southern India. The lens was graded and classified after dilation using LOCS III system at the slit lamp for cataract.

Prevalence of vitreoretinal disorders in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Study.

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.

The prevalence of refractive errors among adults in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of refractive errors in persons 40 years and older.

Methods: Counts of persons with phakic eyes with and without spherical equivalent refractive error in the worse eye of +3 diopters (D) or greater, -1 D or less, and -5 D or less were obtained from population-based eye surveys in strata of gender, race/ethnicity, and 5-year age intervals. Pooled age-, gender-, and race/ethnicity-specific rates for each refractive error were applied to the corresponding stratum-specific US, Western European, and Australian populations (years 2000 and projected 2020).

Impact of ivermectin on illness and disability associated with onchocerciasis.

The Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP), one of the most successful vertical disease control programs in the history of public health, came to an end in 2003 with devolvement of responsibilities for control program activities passed to the countries affected. Fortunately, 15 years ago the Mectizan Distribution Program (MDP) was founded to provide a complementary approach to controlling the disabling consequences of this parasitic infection. With over 250 million doses of ivermectin distributed over the past 15 years, the MDP is well on its way to both solidifying the progress made by the OCP and extending program reach well beyond the boundaries of the OCP.

Experience Corps: design of an intergenerational program to boost social capital and promote the health of an aging society.

Population aging portends a crisis of resources and values. Desired solutions could include intergenerational strategies to harness the untapped potential of older adults to address societal needs and to generate health improvements for older adults. Despite the desire of many older adults to remain socially engaged and productive, the creation of productive roles has lagged.

A social model for health promotion for an aging population: initial evidence on the Experience Corps model.

This report evaluates whether a program for older volunteers, designed for both generativity and health promotion, leads to short-term improvements in multiple behavioral risk factors and positive effects on intermediary risk factors for disability and other morbidities. The Experience Corps(R) places older volunteers in public elementary schools in roles designed to meet schools' needs and increase the social, physical, and cognitive activity of the volunteers. This article reports on a pilot randomized trial in Baltimore, Maryland.

Low dose daily iron supplementation improves iron status and appetite but not anemia, whereas quarterly anthelminthic treatment improves growth, appetite and anemia in Zanzibari preschool children.

Iron deficiency and helminth infections are two common conditions of children in developing countries. The consequences of helminth infection in young children are not well described, and the efficacy of low dose iron supplementation is not well documented in malaria-endemic settings. A 12-mo randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind trial of 10 mg daily iron and/or mebendazole (500 mg) every 3 mo was conducted in a community-based sample of 459 Zanzibari children age 6-71 mo with hemoglobin > 70 g/L at baseline.

Role of antimicrobial applications to the umbilical cord in neonates to prevent bacterial colonization and infection: a review of the evidence.

In developing countries umbilical cord infections constitute a major cause of neonatal morbidity and pose significant risk for mortality, whereas outbreaks of cord infections continue to occur in developed country nurseries. Cord infections in developing countries can be prevented through increasing access to tetanus toxoid immunization during pregnancy, promoting clean cord care and reducing harmful cord applications and behaviors. Interventions introduced in both developed and developing countries to reduce exposure of the cord to infectious pathogens include clean cord cutting, hand-washing before and after handling the baby, bathing of the infant with antimicrobial agents and application of antimicrobials to the cord.

Lens opacities in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Study.

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.

Risks and benefits of anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication use before cataract surgery.

Objective: To estimate the risks and benefits associated with continuation of anticoagulants or antiplatelet medication use before cataract surgery.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Participants: Patients 50 and older scheduled for 19,283 cataract surgeries at nine centers in the United States and Canada between June 1995 and June 1997.

Blindness and vision impairment in a rural south Indian population: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Survey.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment in a rural population of southern India.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study.

Participants: A total of 17200 subjects aged 6 years or older, including 5150 subjects aged 40 years or older from 50 clusters representative of three southern districts of Tamil Nadu in southern India.

Glaucoma in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind comprehensive eye survey.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of glaucoma and risk factors for primary open-angle glaucoma in a rural population of southern India.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study.

Participants: A total of 5150 subjects aged 40 years and older from 50 clusters representative of three southern districts of Tamil Nadu in southern India.

Impact of supplementing newborn infants with vitamin A on early infant mortality: community based randomised trial in southern India.

Objective: To assess the impact of supplementing newborn infants with vitamin A on mortality at age 6 months.

Design: Community based, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial.

Setting: Two rural districts of Tamil Nadu, southern India.

Performance of the Haemoglobin Colour Scale in diagnosing severe and very severe anaemia.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of Haemoglobin Colour Scale (HCS) in identifying severely anaemic [haemoglobin (Hb) <7 g/dl] and very severely anaemic (Hb <5 g/dl) individuals, and to compare the performances of a group of health workers using HCS after training with a standard method.

Method: The study consisted of two parts. In part 1, the performance of HCS was compared with clinical examination in a hospital population of which more than 450 individuals were severely anaemic and more than 120 very severely anaemic.

Is there an association between cataract surgery and age-related macular degeneration? Data from three population-based studies.

Purpose: To determine whether cataract surgery is associated with an increased prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in three independent population-based data sets.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Method: Data were used from the Salisbury Eye Evaluation (2,520 subjects from Salisbury, Maryland, aged 65 to 84 years), the Proyecto VER (4,774 Hispanic subjects from Arizona aged 40 years and older), and the Baltimore Eye Survey (4,396 subjects from Baltimore, Maryland, aged 40 and older).

Pseudoexfoliation in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Survey.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and risk factors for pseudoexfoliation in a rural population of southern India.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study of pseudoexfoliation with and without glaucoma in rural southern India.

Method: A total of 5,150 subjects aged 40 years and older from 50 clusters representative of three southern districts of Tamil Nadu in southern India.

Retinal microvascular abnormalities and 10-year cardiovascular mortality: a population-based case-control study.

Purpose: Retinal microvascular abnormalities reflect persistent arteriolar damage from hypertension and independently predict stroke. We examined their associations with long-term cardiovascular mortality.

Design: Population-based, nested, case-control study.

Ultrasonographic biomicroscopy, Scheimpflug photography, and novel provocative tests in contralateral eyes of Chinese patients initially seen with acute angle closure.

Objectives: To compare ocular biometry of the contralateral eyes of individuals seen with acute angle closure (AAC) with eyes of population-based control subjects, and to assess novel provocative tests to study the mechanism of AAC.

Design: Prospective case-control study.

Participants: Chinese persons seen as incident cases of AAC and Chinese population-based controls.

A self-administered health questionnaire for the preoperative risk stratification of patients undergoing cataract surgery.

Purpose: To determine if a self-administered health status questionnaire completed by candidates for cataract surgery is beneficial for identifying medical comorbidities and patients at risk for adverse intraoperative and postoperative medical events.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: Data were obtained from a large, randomized clinical trial of 19,250 cataract surgeries performed between June 1, 1995, and June 30, 1997.

Nasopharyngeal carriage of resistant pneumococci in young South Indian infants.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading bacterial cause of life-threatening infections in infants. Although antibiotic resistance affects management of pneumococcal infections, few data on patterns of resistance are available for India. We examined nasopharyngeal carriage of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci in 464 South Indian infants between 2 and 6 months.

Retinal microvascular abnormalities and blood pressure in older people: the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Aim: To examine the relation between blood pressure and retinal microvascular abnormalities in older people.

Methods: The Cardiovascular Health Study is a prospective cohort study conducted in four US communities initiated in 1989 to 1990. Blood pressure was measured according to standardised protocols at each examination.

VF-14 item specific responses in patients undergoing first eye cataract surgery: can the length of the VF-14 be reduced?

Aims: To report the item specific responses of the VF-14 in a population of patients undergoing cataract surgery in their first eye and to determine whether or not the VF-14 can be reduced without compromising its performance as an index of cataract related visual impairment.

Methods: The item specific responses to the VF-14 were analysed before (771 patients) and 4 months after (552 patients) cataract surgery in one eye to determine if the VF-14 index can be reduced without compromising its performance. Patients studied were selected from a cross sectional longitudinal study of patients undergoing cataract surgery in 72 ophthalmologist's offices located in three metropolitan regions of the United States.