Presbyopia in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Objective: To determine the pattern of presentation of presbyopia in Yenagoa. Method: All consecutive new patients presenting to the eye clinic of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Niger Delta University complaining of blurred vision or asthenopia while doing near work, whose near acuity improved to at least N8 (Jaeger) with the addition of a convex lens were studied. Distance and near acuity were done using the Snellen and the Jaeger charts respectively, followed by a full ocular examination including objective and subjective refraction. Statistical analysis was done using the statistical package for social scientists (SPSS, 11.0). Results: A total of 1168 new patients were reviewed, out of which 149 were diagnosed as presbyopic. There were 73 males and 76 females (M: F =1:1.04), with an age range of 34-83 years (mean 45.6 years: SD±4.172). Most of the patients (72.5%) were emmetropes. Hypermetropia was the commonest refractive error (16.8%) followed by astigmatism (8.7%). Myopia was found to be rare (2.0%). The earliest age at presentation was 34 years with a mean of 45.6 years (SD±4.172) for both sexes. The mean add requirement for the male patients was +2.061 (SD±0.470) while that for the female patients was +1.715 (SD±0.345). The difference in add requirement was found to be statistically significant (p=0.00001). Conclusion: Presbyopia occurred early among the population studied. The add requirement was also high. The mean add requirement for male patients was found to be higher than that for the female patients. Keywords: presbyopia, add, onset, Yenagoa, hypermetropia, near vision