Epidemiology and Visual Impairment of Ocular Toxoplasmosis in the Maldives: A Descriptive and Analytical Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62338/mw8kqv17Keywords:
Epidemiology, Ocular toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii, Visual impairmentAbstract
Ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) caused by the protozoon Toxoplasma gondii is the leading cause of permanent blindness in the Maldives.3 This study aims to describe the epidemiology of OT in the Maldives. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study comprising 60 participants, which utilized census sampling to identify patients diagnosed with OT, enlisted on HINAI,the database of the government tertiary hospital in the capital city of Maldives, Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), as well as from VINAVI,the database of the universal health insurance scheme of Maldives, Aasandha between the years 2021 to 2024. The study demonstrates the association of the visual outcomes of OT based on age, gender, socioeconomic factors, contact with pets, comorbidities and clinical manifestations. Sociodemographic data was collected via phone interviews following verbal consent and the clinical data was extracted from the respective databases. Our findings revealed that severe visual impairment in OT was most commonly observed among lower income groups, elderly patients above the age of 55 years, equally distributed between both genders; male and female and in patients from southern Maldives compared to central and northern Maldives. In addition, severe visual impairment was observed in patients with chronicity of the disease for more than five years. Significant correlation was found between visual acuity and the location of lesion, type of scar and having an underlying comorbidity such as diabetes.
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