This survey comparing the primary causes of eye disease and visual impairment between rural and urban areas was conducted from the beginning of February through May of 1989. The outcome of that research on 686 residents (1372 eyes) of Buan-Kun, Chunbuk, and 997 residents (1994 eyes) of Dobong-Ku, Seoul, is as follows: 1. Of the basic ocular affections, pterygium was the most prevalent in Baun-Kun with 178 eyes (13.0%), while allergic and chronic conjunctivitis were in the majority in Dobong-Ku with 170 eyes (8.5%). 2. In causes of visual impairment, refractive error showed to be the main one in both Buan-Kun with 135 eyes (9.8%) and Dobong-Ku with 132 eyes (6.6%). 3. In rate of blindness, Buan-Kun had 7.0% monocular blindness and 3.2% of binocular blindness, while 4.1% of monocular blindness and 1.7% of binocular blindness were found in Dobong-Ku. 4. In causes of blindness, cataract (51.1%) was followed by macular degeneration (17.4%), corneal opacity (13.0%), and vascular retinopathy (9.8%) in Buan-Kun, while cataract (56.0%), macular degeneration (6.7%), corneal opacity (6.7%), and phthisis (6.7%) were recorded in that order in Dobong-Ku.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Blindness/epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Eye Diseases/*epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Random Allocation ; Vision Disorders/*epidemiology