Kathmandu, Dec. 1 -- communicable diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes, are fueling an alarming rise in eye problems, a new study by the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology shows.

The report titled "An Epidemiological Study of Ocular Diseases in the Kathmandu District of Nepal: Kathmandu Eye Study" the population-level assessment of the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment, published last week, shows that most people above 40 years of age (97.7 percent) from the Kathmandu Valley, were diagnosed with some form of eye disease.

"Of total participants, 69.4 percent of them had hypertension and 47.2 percent of them had diabetes," the report stated. "Among participants with hypertension, one percent had hypertensive retinop...