Visual Acuity and Retinal Changes in South Australian Aborigines

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Abstract
Eye examinations were carried out at 4 Aboriginal reserves. Of 361 Aboriginal adults tested, 64 had a visual defect (visual acuity of 6/9 or worse) in each eye, a prevalence of 18%, with an additional 79 (22%) with a similar loss of acuity in 1 eye only; these were more frequently seen at the urbanized reserve of Koonibba. Only 1 full blood Aboriginal child within the less urbanized communities had a reduced visual acuity; 7 (10%) part blood children at a more urbanized reserve had reduced vision in both eyes, with a further 9 (13%) in 1 eye only, not unlike figures quoted for South Australian school children. Vascular changes in the fundus oculi were observed and occurred more often when hypertension and/or hyperglycemia were present. They consisted of arteriovenous [AV] crossing changes (26%), swelling of the retinal veins (3%) and altered light reflex (41%) and were infrequently seen in the younger adult (20% of adults under 30 yr had AV crossing changes and 46% had widened light streak). Although hypertension and hyperglycemia are related to retinal vascular changes, other factors, as yet unidentified, are present in the Aboriginal population under consideration.