Every third Pole (32%) has never visited an ophthalmologist, and 23% Those who visited have never had a fundus examination to detect serious retinal diseases early, according to a report presented at a press conference in the capital on Tuesday.
At the conference, this year’s assumptions of the social campaign XNUMXth Week of Eye Volleyball Disorders, which had been carried out for many years, were also presented. The campaign aims to encourage Poles to undergo regular ophthalmological examinations and educate them about retinal diseases, which are the third cause of blindness in the world (after cataract and glaucoma).
“People all over the world go blind from retinal diseases that deceive their eyesight week after week, month after month, year after year. People generally think that the blind were born like this, but many of us stopped seeing during our lives, sometimes at a young age, ”said Małgorzata Pacholec, president of the Retina AMD Polska Association, which is the co-organizer of the campaign, at the conference.
Pacholec herself lost her eyesight just after the age of 40 due to an incurable genetic disease of the retina. At the meeting, however, she emphasized that many lesions in the retina detected early can be inhibited and thus save the eyesight.
That is why the organizers of the campaign encourage all Poles – older and younger – to undergo regular eye examinations.
The report shows that 32 percent. respondents have never visited an ophthalmologist, 28 percent. visits him less than once in three years, 20 percent does it every 2-3 years and about 20 percent. – once a year or more.
According to Pacholec, it is not enough just to test the visual acuity, which we usually do when we visit an ophthalmologist. From the latest report entitled “Stop the epidemic of blindness. The medical, social and economic picture of eye retinal diseases ”shows that every fourth Pole (approx. 27%) performs them once a year or more often.
“Evil lurks at the back of the eye, in the retina. That is why it is so important to check it regularly, ”argued Pacholec. However, as we read in the report, 23% of people visiting an ophthalmologist have never performed a fundus examination in their lives. people, 40 percent does it every three years or less frequently, approx. 15 percent. once every two years, approx. 13 percent once a year, and about 6 percent once every six months or more.
As prof. Andrzej Stankiewicz, president of the Age-related Macular Degeneration Association, in Poland 1,5 million people suffer from various diseases of the retina, and 50 thousand because of them, he lost his eyesight irreversibly.
“Unfortunately, only every third Pole (32 percent) declares that they have heard about retinal diseases at one time,” emphasized Dr. Beata Hoffmann from the Institute of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Warsaw in Warsaw, who presented the results of the report. The two most common ones, i.e. age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), have been heard by every fifth (21%) and one in nine (11%) of us, respectively. As much as 39 percent. of the respondents had no knowledge of the consequences of retinal diseases.
According to prof. Stankiewicza, AMD and DME constitute as much as 90 percent. cases of these conditions. They damage a small, centrally located area of the retina (about 0,5 cm in diameter), called the macula.
“It is responsible for sharp vision, color recognition, seeing objects, reading” – explained the specialist. Therefore, the patient with AMD gradually loses visual acuity, perceives the contours of objects in the central field of vision as wavy, then begins to see the so-called central scotoma, i.e. a dark spot in the center of the image that gradually grows larger. The disease also causes deterioration of color vision and a reduction in contrast.
“People who develop AMD have, inter alia, difficulties with reading, timing – because they cannot see the clock face and face recognition, therefore they often do not tell their friends + good morning +. They are also unable to read the number of an incoming tram, and ultimately they are not even able to see even what is on their plate “- said Prof. Stankiewicz. A rarer form of AMD, the so-called exudative, can lead to blindness in just a few months, he emphasized.
He reminded that AMD and DME mostly affect people over 50. “Therefore, people aged 50-55 should undergo ophthalmological examinations at least once a year” – noted the expert.
The epidemiology of age-related macular degeneration is not well understood in Poland. It is estimated that about 1,2 million people suffer from them. In turn, DME may concern up to 3 percent. people out of 2,5 million diabetics in our country. As much as 26 percent. of them are under 45 years old.
The research for the latest report was carried out by the TNS research studio (formerly TNS OBOP) in mid-April 2012. 1000 people aged 15 and over participated in them, randomly selected.
The initiators of the publication are: the Retina AMD Poland Association, the Age-related Spot Degeneration Association and the Polish Association of the Blind. The honorary patronage over it is provided by the Polish Ophthalmology Society. The publisher is sponsored by Novartis. (PAP)
jjj/ krf/ gma/