Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND The Norwegian Register of Visual Impairment and Blindness (Blindekartoteket) was discontinued in 1995 owing to
inadequate reporting and poor data security. Since then, no registration of visual impairment has taken place in Norway. All the
other Nordic countries have registers for children and adolescents with visual impairment. The purpose of the present study was
to survey visual impairments and their causes in children and adolescents, and to assess the need for an ophthalmic register.
MATERAL AND METHOD Data on children and adolescents aged less than 20 years with impaired vision (n = 628) were collected
via the county special needs education centres for the visually impaired in the period 2005-2010. This took the form of a point
prevalence study as of 1 January 2004. Visual function, ophthalmic diagnosis, systemic diagnosis and additional functional
disabilities were recorded.
RESULTS Approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents with visual impairment had low vision, while one-third were blind.
The three largest diagnostic groups were neuro-ophthalmological diseases (37 %), retinal diseases (19 %) and conditions affecting
the eyeball in general (14 %). The prevalence of additional functional impairments was high, at 53 %, most often in the form of
motor or cognitive impairments.
INTERPRETATION The results of the study correspond well with similar investigations in the other Nordic countries. Our study
shows that the registers of special needs education for the visually impaired are inadequate with respect to medical data, and this
underlines the need for an ophthalmic register of children and adolescents with visual impairment.