Prevalence of refractive errors among school children of 6-12-years of age group and reason for not using spectacles even after correction

Abstract

Background: As your eyes are one of the most important organ in the human body and vision is one of the most wonderful gift. But often many people neglect the importance of eye care and do not pay proper attention towards eye care. An estimated 180 million people world- wide are visibly disabled, of whom nearly 45 million are blind, four out of five of them live in developing countries. Blindness is one of the most significant social problems in India with uncorrected refractive errors as the second major cause accounting for 19.7% of blindness and low vision. Refractive error is an optical defect, intrinsic to the eye which prevents light from being brought to a single point focus on the retina, thus reducing normal vision. Diagnosis and treatment of refractive errors is relatively simple and is one of the easiest ways to reduce impaired vision. Three main types are considered as refractive errors: hypermetropia (farsightedness), myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism.Methods: This study was conducted in various schools of Haryana. It included 1000 school going children of age group of 6 to 12 years enrolled in 6 rural schools (619 students) and 4 urban schools (381 students). Cases were defined is visual acuity <6/6 without spectacles. Details regarding socio-demographic factors and visual examination were noted in detail, follow up with children and their parents were conducted to know the reasons for not using spectacles even after correction.Results: The study which included 620 students from rural schools and 380 students from urban schools revealed that prevalence of refractive errors was 7.0% in which Myopia is the most common refractive error 44(61.9%) followed by the astigmatism 16(24.1%) and Hypermetropia (14%) among the children with Refractive Errors.Conclusions: Now a day, refractive error is increasing due to edu-comp smart classes in school or use of laptops, TV viewing and computers or mobiles and if not diagnosed earlier and not managed timely can lead to complication like amblyopic and strabismus and some other ocular pathologies etc.