Background:

retinitis pigmentosa, an ocular disease of genetic origin and low prevalence, slowly progresses over years towards severe visual impairment and affects social performance. In the Ophthalmology Service of the Dr. Salvador Allende Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital, there is an institutional care protocol that includes systematic and comprehensive care for those affected.

Objective:

to identify chronic non-communicable diseases in patients with retinitis pigmentosa and their relatives.

Methods:

descriptive, prospective study carried out between March 2016-March 2022, with non-probabilistic and intentional sampling. Patients and families registered in the service's database, residing in the Cerro and Plaza municipalities, in Havana, were selected.

Results:

of 145 people studied (74 patients with retinitis pigmentosa and 71 relatives), 138 (95.1%) had non-communicable chronic diseases, among which arterial hypertension (29.7%), diabetes mellitus (21 0.0%) and the association of both (13.0%). In community dispensing, people with visual impairment are included in Group 4 and also in other dispensing groups to better attend to the risk factors and chronic non-communicable diseases found in them.

Conclusions:

the identification of chronic non-communicable diseases was useful to deploy holistic and interdisciplinary medical care that facilitates the prevention of diseases and complications, preserves vision, optimizes visual rehabilitation and quality of life. It is recommended to apply attentive care and improve health education in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

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