Abstract:
Objective: The focus of this study was to evaluate the visual status of mine workers who were directly involved in mining and/or are
exposed to the mining environment.
Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted. Four hundred and six (406) workers were conveniently sampled
for the study. Information on their socio-demographic data was also collected. In addition, all participants underwent ophthalmic
examination.
Results: The mean age of the workers was 41.1 years. Visual impairment was found in 114 (28.1%) of the study population of which
refractive error (56.8%) was the major cause. Presbyopia was also observed in 45.5% of the workers with only 30.3% of them wearing
near correction. The prevalence of eye diseases were pterygium/pingueculae (25.8%), conjunctivitis (26.8%), suspected glaucoma
(15.3%), and cataract (7.4%).
Conclusions: Visual impairment and eye diseases were found among the miners.
