Prevalence of undetected refractive errors among school children

ABSTRACT

In Pakistan 11.4% of the blindness is due to uncorrected refractive errors. This study was carried out in two schools of Lahore to find the prevalence of refractive errors among high school children. It was an institution - based, cross sectional study involving the use of structured questionnaire and visual examination of the students. A total of 540 children studying in class 6th to 10th were examined over a period of two weeks. Vision of all the children was checked. The children with visual acuity less than 6/12 in one or both eyes, underwent objective retinoscopy and subjective refraction. The results revealed that 107 out of 540 [19.8%] of the children had refractive errors. Myopia was the most common refractive error being 43% [46/107] of the total. Astigmatism, both simple as well as mixed / compound was 35.5% [38/107 while hypermetropia was least common i.e. 21.5% [23/107]. Strong correlation was found between a positive family history of wearing glasses, watching television closely, close study, studying in dim light and over indulgence in computer or video games. It is recommended that adequate preschool examination of the children be made mandatory and part of the admission policy of all the schools in Pakistan. In addition, there should be periodic examination of the school children at least on annual basis