Myopia, axial length, and optic coherence tomography characteristics of the macula in Indian children

Background: Myopia is a common condition affecting a significant proportion of the pediatric population in Asian countries. Aim and Objectives: This study was undertaken to investigate the associations of optical coherence tomography measurements of macular volume and macular thickness with refractive error and axial length in Indian children. Materials and Methods: The prospective observational study was carried out at MRA Medical College, Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. We enrolled 300 consecutive cases (190 cases and 110 controls) of pediatric age group (6–18 years) between January 2015 and December 2018. Pearson’s correlation was performed with refractive errors, axial length, macular thickness, and volume. Results: Children with myopia (SE ?0.5–?4.57 D) tended to have smaller total macular volume and thinner macular thickness as, compared to control. The correlation of macular thickness and macular volume was analyzed with spherical equivalent (SE) and axial length. Macular thickness had negative correlation with SE and positive with axial length, correlation coefficients being observed as (r = ?0.886 and 0.880, P ? 0.001). Total macular volume correlated negatively with SE, (r= ?0.771, P ?0.001) and positively with axial length (r = 0.764, P ?0.001). Conclusion: Increasing axial myopia was associated with increased macular volume and thickness. It establishes the importance of the fact that refractive error should be considered in the interpretation of macular thickness.

Secular Trends in Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity over a Decade in Urban and Rural South Indian Children Integrated with Geographic Information System

Context: The globalization in the process most of the rural sectors are also upgrading technically with digitalization with more availability of smart phones and gaming along with the refined food influences on the present?day children is causing a trend of overweight among the children. Aims: To arrive at the prevalence of overweight and obesity considering the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) cut?offs for growth standards among children aged 12 years from the rural and urban areas of Mysuru District. Methods and Material: The present program was the third large scale community intervention project carried out including the 7 talukas of Mysuru District which focused on the measurement of the Body mass index (BMI). In this phase between the year 2019 and 2020 anthropometric measurements were undertaken in 1602 urban and rural children aged 12 years from government?funded and privately?funded schools of Mysuru District. Statistical Analysis Used: The results were analysed statistically using SPSS for Windows (version 23.0) and the t?test, Chi?square test and proportion tests, P value were reported. Results: As per the IAP reference ranges the prevalence of obesity was 5.5% and overweight was 7.1% among children of Mysuru District. Conclusions: We report that this increase was significantly higher in girls than boys. There was an increasing trend in rural sectors; however, the obese children were more predominantly distributed among the urban sectors. This calls for a precise preventive measure to fulfil the goal of the World Health Organization (WHO) to control prevalence of childhood obesity by the year 2022

Detection of ocular hypertelorism among Indian children

Background & objectives: Ocular hypertelorism constitutes an important component of many clinical syndromes. It is typically recommended to use inter-pupillary distance (IPD) for objective evaluation of ocular hypo/hypertelorism. Barring infancy, there is a scarcity of data on this anthropometric parameter relating to the ocular apparatus. This study aims to study auxological dynamics of IPD in children of Indian origin. Methods: A total of 3622 ( 2239 males and, 1383 females) normal, healthy Indian children of North-western origin, aged one month to 14 yr comprised the sample for this study. Inner and outer-canthal distance were measured using standardized anthropometric techniques. None of the children who participated in this study had craniofacial dysmorphism or any body deformity. Mean (standard deviation SD) and percentiles were calculated for IPD in male and female subjects at different age levels. Results: IPD increased from 4.68±0.21 to 6.19±0.36 cm in males and from 4.59±0.26 to 6.08±0.25 cm in females between one month and 14 yr of age. Boys in general, possessed larger IPD than girls, however, the gender differences became significant (P?0.05) at 10, 11, 16-18 and 22-24 months, respectively, and five and 10 yr of age, respectively. Interpretation & conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the patients having IPD less than the 3rd percentile should be treated as cases of hypotelorism while, those exceeding 97th percentile as cases of hypertelorism. The use of percentile grids presented for IPD may be used to detect ocular hypotelorism and hypertelorism in male and female children to corroborate diagnosis of different syndromes

Vitamin E Level in Normal Indian Children.

Objective/Background: The study was conducted a aim to determine vitamin E levels in normal Indian children. Vitamin E has positive effect on cardiovascular health through its ability to influence signaling process in platelets and also has significant role in neurodegenerative disorders. Vitamin C and vitamin E supplementation retards the progression of coronary arteriosclerosis during early stage following cardiac transplantation. It also mediates the generation and availability of superoxide and nitric oxide and is beneficial in preventing prostate cancer or delaying disease progression. Material and methods: Study included 30 healthy children of either sex, they were divided into three groups each of 10 children i.e., Group I (2-4 years) mean age 3.42 years, Group II (4-6 years) mean age 5.35 years and Group III (6-10 years) mean age 8 years. Vitamin E levels were measured in their serum fluorometric micro methods for serum tocopherol as described by Hansen and Warwick. Result: In Group I, the mean ± SEM value of vitamin E was 2.74 ± 1.10 μgm/ml, in Group II it was 2.82 ± 1.11 μgm/ml and in Group III it was 2.93 ± 1.12 μgm/ml. Conclusion: Serum vitamin E levels in healthy Indian children is 2.82 ± 1.11μg/ml and there is no sex predilection.