Peculiarities of ophthalmologic morbidity in the adult population of the New Earth archipelago: descriptive study

OBJECTIVE. Изучить особенности офтальмологической заболеваемости взрослого населения архипелага Новая Земля по результатам ретроспективного эпидемиологического анализа заболеваемости за 2019–2022 гг.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. A retrospective epidemiologic analysis of ophthalmologic morbidity among the adult population of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago was performed. The studied contingent includes men (n = 1630) aged from 18 to 65 years and women (n = 698) aged from 22 to 45 years living on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. According to the data on the population’s demand for medical care, the primary medical documentation “Outpatient coupon (form No. 025-2/c)” was analyzed to record acute diseases in the field of ophthalmology. To record chronic diseases of the ophthalmological profile, the medical records “Medical card of an outpatient (form No. 025/c)” and “Journal of occupational examinations” were analyzed according to the data of medical examinations and dispensary observation of the allocated contingents. Hospitalized morbidity was studied according to the “Statistical card of the discharged from hospital (form 066/c)”.

RESULTS. In the four-year period we studied, 894 ophthalmologic referrals (2019 - 217, 2020 - 238, 2021 - 209, 2022 - 230) were registered in branch No. 8 of FSI “1469 Naval Clinical Hospital” of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (No. 8 FSI 1469 NCH of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation). Based on the results of the analysis of indicators, it was found that diseases of the eye and its appendages ranked 5th in the statistics on the morbidity of the adult population of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago by ICD-10 disease classes over a four-year period (2019-2022). The total index of acute and chronic cases, calculated as an aggregate of average values for four years, characterizes the prevalence of diseases of the visual organ on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya in the order of 96 cases per 1000 people. The average values of pathologic lesions in the studied profile on Novaya Zemlya are 10.1 %. It was determined that the most frequent pathology is conjunctiva pathology 383 (42.8 %) cases. Analysis of the distribution of ophthalmologic profile pathology by age groups shows that the highest morbidity rate is observed in the 1st age group (170.1 ‰). The lowest level of morbidity in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago is in the 3rd age group (46.4 ‰).

DISCUSSION. It has been established that in the period under study the ophthalmologic morbidity of the adult population of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago occupies the 5th rank by epidemiologic significance and is represented mainly by conjunctival diseases (42.8 %), refractive disorders (41.9 %), eyelid diseases (6.3 %) and retinal diseases (4.8 %). The leading risk factors provoking the development of ophthalmologic pathology in the conditions of the Arctic region are its climatogeographical features: low negative temperature, runoff winds, increased air humidity, insufficient natural illumination, excessive ultraviolet radiation, photoperiodism phenomena.

CONCLUSION. The process of adaptation of the organism to the extreme conditions of the Arctic region causes a profound restructuring of all regulatory physiological and metabolic processes. Climatogeographical conditions, inherent exclusively to the Arctic, have an adverse effect on the visual analyzer and, being an active catalyst of a number of pathogenetic mechanisms, contribute to refractive disorders, including irreversible ones, the emergence and development of inflammatory diseases of the eyes and their appendages, as well as pathology based on abnormalities in metabolic processes.

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