J Korean Med Sci.  2016 Apr;31(4):623-629. 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.4.623.

Epidemiologic Aspects of Medical Retirement from the Republic of Korea Army due to Visual Impairment

• Jeong JH
• Chun YS
• Park KH

• KMID: 2363704
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2016.31.4.623

Abstract

This study was done to report the epidemiologic characteristics of medical retirement from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army due to visual impairment and to suggest a practical screening system for the draft. The medical records of 423 eyes of 301 patients who retired from the ROK Army due to visual impairment were reviewed retrospectively between January 2010 and December 2014. The patients were grouped by the presence of trauma, and each group was subdivided by military rank. We analyzed demographic and ophthalmic data, including the etiology of ophthalmologic disease. The etiology was classified into 5 anatomical categories (ocular surface, lens, retina, optic nerve and extraocular visual pathway, and extraocular muscle and orbit), which were then subdivided into the type of disease. The mean age was 24.5 years, and non-traumatic mechanisms accounted for 81.1% (343/423 eyes) of medical retirements. Visual acuity was better in patients without trauma. In enlisted soldiers, disease in the optic nerve and extraocular visual pathway was the most common anatomical category (40.5%), and primary open angle glaucoma (30.8%), retinal dystrophy (18.3%), congenital cataract (14.5%), and retinal detachment (9.7%) were the four most common diseases. Most medical retirements due to visual impairment resulted from non-traumatic mechanisms, even though patients were young. The fundus examination and visual field test would be more useful tools than a conventional vision test for large-scale draft screening for the most common two disease types: primary open angle glaucoma and retinal dystrophy.

Keyword

Epidemiology; Glaucoma; Military Medicine; Retirement; Vision Disorders; Korea

MeSH Terms

Adult
Cataract/epidemiology
Cohort Studies
Glaucoma, Open-Angle/epidemiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Military Personnel
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Retinal Dystrophies/epidemiology
*Retirement
Retrospective Studies
Vision Disorders/epidemiology/*pathology
Visual Acuity
Young Adult

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Diagrams showing the distribution of patients grouped by hospital. Proportion of patients met the ophthalmologic criteria for medical retirement from the ROK Army.

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  Fig. 2 Summarized flow chart of all patients.

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  Fig. 3 Number of patients with visual impairment by age group.

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  Fig. 4 Distribution of the etiology of ophthalmologic diseases in 423 eyes of 301 patients.

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