Table 2

Causes of childhood blindness as reported from schools for the blind

				Four most frequent causes of blindness and severe visual impairment
Country	Year	Location	No	Category 1	%	Category 2	%	Category 3	%	Category 4	%
*Other causes of blindness not reported.
Argentina⁷	1993	School for the blind	573	ROP	35	Other retina	16	Optic nerve	10	Cataract	8
Bolivia⁸	1988	School for the blind	78	Cornea	23	Retina	23	Cataract	21	Optic nerve	10
Brazil⁹	1998	School for the blind		Glaucoma	15	Cataract	14	Chorioretinitis	13	Optic atrophy	12
Chile⁷	1992	10 schools for the blind	267	Other retina	29	ROP	18	Optic nerve	13	Cataract	9
Colombia¹⁰	1991–6	Three schools for the blind*	94	ROP	11	–	–	–	–	–	–
Cuba¹⁰	1991–6	All school for the blind 2 regions*	70	ROP	39	–	–	–	–	–	–
Dominican Republic⁷	1992	School for the blind	51	Cataract	31	Cornea	18	Glaucoma	18	Other retina	10
Ecuador¹⁰	1991–6	All school for the blind*	142	ROP	14	–	–	–	–	–	–
Guatemala¹⁰	1991–6	All school for the blind*	73	ROP	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
Jamaica¹¹	1986	School for the blind	108	Cataract	39	Optic nerve	18	Glaucoma	15	Retina	15
Paraguay¹⁰	1991–6	All school for the blind*	36	ROP	33	–	–	–	–	–	–
Peru¹²	1990	School for the blind	202	Cornea	18	Glaucoma	12	Cataract	12	Retinal degeneration	12
Uruguay⁷	1986	School for the blind	220	Cataract	25	Other retina	24	Optic nerve	12	ROP	9
USA¹³	1981–95	Low vision clinic	762	Cortical visual impairment	8	ROP	8	Optic atrophy	7	nystagmus	7
USA¹⁴	1996–7	Alabama school for the blind	123	Optic atrophy	13	Cataract	13	Albinism	13	Congenital malformations	12
USA¹⁵	1998	20 schools for the blind	2553	Cortical	19	ROP	13	Optic nerve	7	Albinism	7
USA¹⁶	1998	School for visually impaired	62	ROP	19	Optic atrophy	19	Retinitis pigmentosa	15	Optic nerve hypoplasia	13