A Study on Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among 5-16 Years Rural Children in Chandragiri, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Uncorrected refractive errors are a major cause of low vision and even blindness. The refractive errors can be easily diagnosed and corrected by effective screening programmes. The uncorrected refractive errors in children have a definite impact in adversely affecting the learning capacity and scholastic performance. MATERIAL & METHODS: This Cross sectional was conducted from July to December 2013 among 1412 children aged 5-16 years residing in Chandragiri rural area, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. Visual acuity was assessed using Snellen's chart under standard illumination while detailed eye examination among the suspected cases was done by an ophthalmologist including detailed anterior segment evaluation, ocular motility, radioscopy and auto refraction under 2% homatropine cycloplegic refraction. RESULTS: The prevalence of refractive errors was found to be 7.4% among the study children (out of which 6.1% undiagnosed). Simple myopia was found in 2.4% children while astigmatism (both simple and compound combined) was found in around 2.7% children. It was found that the proportion of myopia increased with age being lowest in 5-7 years (0.0%) and highest in 14-16 age group (4.0%). The proportion of astigmatism also was found to be lowest in 5-7 age group (0.0%) and higher in 11-13 age group and 14-16 age group (4.0% each) However, the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.32; NS). The prevalence of myopia was found to be slightly higher in males (2.7%) than in females (2.1%) while that of astigmatism was found to be higher in females (3.1%) than in males (2.3%). However the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.43; NS). A similar prevalence of refractive errors was found in Bangalore and New Delhi while lower and higher prevalence was reported elsewhere. Myopia and astigmatism are the common disorders in several Indian studies including the present study while African studies found myopia to be less common compared to astigmatism and hypermetropia. Many studies including the present study reported an increase in the prevalence of refractive errors with age of the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of refractive errors in children remain undiagnosed. Thus there is tremendous scope for screening and early diagnosis and treatment of refractive errors in children.