Survey on the Visual Impairments and Ocular Health Status in Urban School Students

ABSTRACT

As a partial effort of the survey in the National Plan for the Eye Health, the analysis of the visual impairment mainly refractive errors among 4,004 School Children in Seoul(1986) with the ancilliary questionnaire on various conditions was attempted. The number of the student with subnormal vision(0.7 or less) was 1,552(38.8 %), and this rate was increased with the higher school grade. Of the 2,551 eyes with subnormal vision(0.7 or less), the confirmed refractive errors consisted of myopia 2,170(78.7%), hyperopia 237(8.6%), and mixed astigmatism 144(5.2%) eyes. The number of glasses wearer among the students of vision 0.5 or below(1,129) was 770(63.2%), of which the under-corrected cases 380(49.3%) weregreater in number with the over corrected cases. The causes of not-wearing glasses in the students who belonged to the vision 0.5 or below indicated in prominence of numbers of 1) no complaints without glasses in 172(42.0%), 2) unwareness of the visual impairment in 77(20.0%), and 3) annoyance to wearing glasses in 51(13.4%), rather than economical reasons in 12(3.1%). The amblyopic components were estimated among 129 cases(3.2%) in combination of refractive errors. Further program to supply the glasses with appropriated prescription and the details on the practical aspects of related elements would be discussed.