!(+ CATARACT Mechi, Bagmati, Gandald, and Rapti zones have the lowest preva- lence rates. 6.3.2 Demographic Characteristics-Age-Sex Distribution The prevalence of cataract by age and sex is shown in Table 6-5. The overall prevalence for males is 2.4 per 100 and for females, 3.2 per 100. The prevalence under the age of 35 is low for both sexes, and begins to rise markedly after the age of 35, tripling between the 45-54 and 55-64 age groups. This strong relationship with age and sex dominates other risk factors. Coupled with the changing age-sex distributions in certain areas of Nepal, this makes it impor- tant to look at age-sex-standardized rates in examining risk factors. TABLE 6-6. AGE-SEX DISTRIBUTION OF CATARACT IN NEPAL (NBS 1981) Estimated Population with Cataract Sample N Prevalence per 100 Males: 0-14 15-24 25-34 35--44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+ Total male Female: 0-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+ Total female 8,835 3,040 2,345 1,894 1,594 1,004 561 172 19,445 3,397 2,664 2,209 8,852 25,057 43,818 55,503 26,682 168,182 0.1 0.2 0.3 1.3 4.3 12.2 28.9 44.2 2.4 8,400 3,435 2,801 2,213 1,631 1,038 514 166 20,198 2,776 2,032 2,746 11,545 37,940 65,575 74,469 31,528 228,611 0.1 0.2 0.3 1.5 6.7 18.7 42.5 53.7 3.2 2.8 NA Subtotal 39,643 244 396,793 NA Missing data 397,205 2.8 Total 39,887 Source: FR7.006 AN.1
