A study of color vision deficiency in an adult kashmiri population

Background: Many people in the world are color blind as they are affected by the color vision deficiency. Most of them remain undetected for their whole life because of unawareness about the disease or they simply adapt to the external environment. Looking at the morbidity associated with color vision deficiency, we aimed at conducting this study in Kashmir division to estimate the burden of color vision deficiency in adult Kashmiri population. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by Postgraduate Department of Physiology, Government Medical College, Srinagar from April 2015 to October 2016 in Kashmir division of J&K State. Sampling was done using Multi stage sampling method. Detailed informed consent was taken from patients and relevant information regarding name, age, gender, consanguinity, marital status, education, medical history and drug history were collected on structured Proforma. Color vision testing was done using Ishihara pseudo isochromatic plates (38 plates -latest edition). Ishihara 38 plates edition contains 38 plates in which 25 plates are for literate subjects while 13 plates are for illiterate subjects. Results: A total of 3110 participants were included in the study. The mean age of the study participants was 34.72 +_14.862 years. Only 246 (7.9%) of the study participants were having history of Consanguineous marriage. Most of the participants 2544(81.8&) were educated and 2012 (64.7%) were married. The estimated prevalence is 4.7%.Among the types of color vision deficiency, Deuteranomalia is the most common type prevalent in the Kashmiri population. Conclusion: The assessment of color vision deficiency by Ishihara pseudo isochromatic plates is rapid, cost efficient and sensitive in detecting red-green color vision deficiency. Researches may attempt to formulate hypothesis regarding causal relationship, frequency and significance of color vision deficiency in human population