Purpose: To assess the epidemiological profile of the ametropia cases attended at the University Hospital Nucleus (NHU) of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) since ophthalmologic research in this are is extremely poor in our region. Methods: A retrospective epidemiological surgery at the Section of Medical Files (SAME) was carried out, applying a research protocol to 2,361 charts of patients presenting some type of ametropia who were attended at the NHU between 1996 and 1998, with information on sex, age and type of ametropia (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism or presbyopia). The data were analyzed and discussed. Results: There was prevalence of females (60%) in all cases of ametropia, the greatest number of attended people being patients with presbyopia (987 cases), followed by hyperopia (701), myopia (434) and astigmatism (239). Myopia was present mostly in the age range of 20 to 29 years, hyperopia between 0 and 9 years and astigmatism between 10 and 39 years, while the highest incidence of presbyopia was in the age range over 40 years. Conclusion: The number of female patients is higher than that of males, even considering each ametropia separately. Some hypotheses are proposed. Myopia is more frequent at ages between 10 and 39 years. Hyperopia occurs more frequently in children and newborns, tending to decrease with age because of eyeball increase. Astigmatism was characterized as a defect occurring in adolescents and young adults. Presbyopia was the commonest refraction error and its incidence occurred in the age range over 40 years, similarly to data found in the literature.
Ametropia; Epidemiology; Refraction
