Técnica padronizada de exame ocular com colírio de rosa bengalapara diagnóstico de hipovitaminose A em crianças de Novo Cruzeiro, Valedo Mucuri, Minas Gerais

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most prevalent causes of avoidable blindness in children all over the world. The main injuries related to this micronutrient carency occur in the eye. The progressive and gradual sequence of ocular adverse events in the VAD is called Xerophtalmia. The initial clinical sign is the night blindness related with retinal lesions. Conjunctival xerosis is a consequence of globbet cells damage in conjunctival epithelium. Dry eye state can lead to severeconjunctival and corneal xerosis with Bitot Spots, keratitis, Keratomalacy, visual impairment and loss of the eye ball. Xerophtalmia diagnosis can be made by Conjunctival Impression Cytology and also by all dry eye diagnosis tests like Schirmmer test, tear film break-up time and vital dies (Lissamine Green and Rose Bengal - RB). These study objectives were to introduce a new standardized technique in use of RB for diagnosis of Xerophtalmia and to correlate the ocular findings with the serum retinol status. A total of 503 children with age between 6 and 14 years had been evaluated in an alleatory sample. The participants had been submitted to biomicroscopic examination with and without use of RB. The findingsafter RB had been classified according to scores. Blood samples were collected for seric retinol measurement. A questionnaire with social and economic data was applied. The RB test was positive at least in one eye in 69%. No ocular specific sign related to Xerophtalmia was identified. Serum retinol levels ranged from 0 to 202ìg/dl. VAD was observed in 1,9% of the population with serum retinol levels less than 20ìg/dl. Conclusions: there is no significant correlation between RB test andserum retinol status. Further investigation is needed to identify the causes of positive tests with RB examination.