RESUMEN
Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of myopia at the community level. Methods: A population?based, cross?sectional study was planned in 40 clusters among children identified with subnormal vision in the urban community of Delhi. House?to?house visits were conducted for visual acuity screening of 20,000 children aged 0–15 years using age appropriate visual acuity charts. All the children with visual acuity of < 6/12 in any eye in the age group between 3 and 15 years and inability to follow light in age group 0–3 years were referred for detailed ophthalmic examination. Results: A total of 13,572 (64.7%) children belonged to the age group of 6–15 years. Of these, a total of 507 (3.7%) were found to be having myopia (spherical equivalent of ?0.50 DS or worse in one or both eyes) with positive association with higher age groups. Conclusion: The estimated prevalence of myopia is 3.7%; the proportion of uncorrected myopia was 45%, which reflects that refractive error services need to be improved further.