
Spectrum of Ocular Diseases at a Military Hospital in Ladakh, North India
843-846
Correspondence
Kirti Nath Jha Professor, Department of Ophthalmology Manipal Teaching Hospital/ Manipal College of Medical Sciences Pokhara, Nepal
The objective of this study was to study the spectrum of patients with ocular diseases, attending a referral military hospital in a remote hilly region of north India. 793 consecutive patients were treated in the Ophthalmology Department over a four year period (Jan 2001 to Dec 2003) at a referral military hospital in Laddakh, Jammu and Kashmir. Males outnumbered females (M: F ratio 3:1), with 56.7 % patients being below 40 years age The spectrum of diseases in the descending order was: refractive errors 33.8%, cataract 21.4%, inflammatory conjunctival diseases 16.8%, pterygium 8.4 %, corneal diseases 5.5%, injuries 3.9 %, diseases of ocular adnexa 3.4%, glaucoma 2.4%, uveitis 2.1%, and miscellaneous 2.3%. Among the cases of blindness, cataract accounted for 85% of cases, refractive errors for 5.5 %, injuries for 5.5 %, corneal opacity for 1.9% , glaucoma for 0.5%, and others for 1.6 %.