Causes of blindness in Irbid, Jordan.

To determine the most common causes of blindness and the age of onset of these conditions among Jordanians of Irbid, a study of all registered members in two societies for the care of the blind was carried out. Of all registered members, 185 individuals were blind according to the World Health Organization definition and satisfied our inclusion criteria. It was found that genetically determined causes made up 41% of the total causes. In 57% of the subjects, blindness occurred in the first two decades of life. The specific leading causes of blindness, in the order of their frequencies, were tapetoretinal degenerations as different variants of retinitis pigmentosa (17.6%), glaucomas (16%), diabetic retinopathy (13%), post-infection corneal scarring (11.5%), congenital cataract (8.8%) and uveitis (8%). The results reflect the satisfactory achievements in primary health care levels and the challenge to make specialized tertiary health care more accessible.