CHANGE IN EDUCATION METHOD IN COVID-19 PERIOD: EFFECT ON PATTERN OF MYOPIA IN PEDIATRIC AGE GROUP

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Myopia is a major health issue in our society. There is a large number of proportion remain undiagnosed. High myopia can be associated with multiple consequences as myopic retinopathy, myopic macular degeneration, retinal detachment and amblyopia. The aim of our study to focus on magnitude of childhood myopia, increase awareness for myopia in our society so that we can reduce vision threatening sequelae in children. Methods: Study was conducted in ophthalmology department and ENT department government medical college Saharanpur, medicine department Uttar Pradesh medical sciences, Saifai and pediatric department GTB medical college New Delhi. Children between 7 to 16 years with ametropia included in the study to find out magnitude of myopia among them. Result: A total of 1460 children between the age of 7-16 years with complains of eyeache, headache, heaviness of head diminution of vision, and with other asthenopic symptoms included in the study. Among these 320 children were myopic. It shows high magnitude of myopia in children. Out of these myopic children mild grade myopic children were in high proportion (35.9%). Conclusion: The study showed the pattern of myopia in children in Indian population. Screening in schools and early diagnosis of refractive error affect the learning and performances of children. In our study we showed the pattern of severity of myopia in children. Study also showed the effect of digital screen time of children with myopia.