Allergic Conjunctivits in Zaria, Nigeria: An Assessment at Community Level

Community Ophthalmology

Abstract

Background: Most of the studies on Allergic Conjunctivitis (AC) in our environment and in fact Africa are hospital-based. So, the  possibility of underestimating the burden of AC is high because of hospital-attending behaviour. The aim of this study was to  determine the prevalence of AC, its distribution and clinical presentation in Zaria community Traditionally, ocular allergy has been  defined as a group of type I and type IV hypersensitivity –mediated ocular surface disease.1 

Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study of 4,128 participants in an Eye Screening exercise was conducted. An Eye  Screening Protocol designed by the authors was used to extract relevant information from willing participants. These included biodata,  history, visual acuity, anterior and posterior segment findings. Allergic conjunctivitis was defined as recurrent or chronic  itching of the eyes in addition to one or a  combination of redness, foreign body sensation, tearing, pain or peppery sensation,  stringy discharge or photophobia with signs of conjunctival injection and/or perilimbal conjunctival hyperpigmentation  with papillae >1mm on the upper tarsal conjunctiva and/or Limbal infiltration/ papillae with or without, pseudoptosis,  pseudogerontoxon, corneal erosion and plaques. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version  23.0.