Abstract
Objective: To determine the prevalence of pinguécula and pterygium in a quilombola population of the Brazilian Amazon. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study was carried out with 120 individuals from two quilombola communities (Itancoã and Guajará) from the city of Acará in the state of Pará, Brazil, who were evaluated by an ophthalmologist through slit lamp examination and classified in 1 or 0 according to the presence and absence of pinguecula and pterygium, sex and age were also collected. The data were statistically analyzed in a descriptive way and the following tests were applied: binomial, chi-square and Fisher exact, with null hypothesis rejection level alpha = 0.05. Results: The pterygium had a prevalence of 18.3% (95% CI = 11.4% - 25.3%) in the sample studied. While pinguecula cases were observed in 7.5% (95% CI = 12.2% - 32.8%) of the individuals examined. Conclusion: The prevalence of pterygium does not reach 20% of the quilombola population (p = 0.2283), and it affects more men mainly from the 40 years. While the prevalence of pinguécula is low (p = 01144), however, the data found for this last pathology require more accurate study designs for its better investigation.