Impact of Refractive Errors on the Academic Performance of High School Children of Lahore

Abstract

IntroductionThe process of learning begins in childhood and accurate vision can greatly affects a child's learning capacity. It is documented that visual impairment in children can have a significant impact on their performance at school as well as their social interaction and development.ObjectiveThis research aimed to study the impact of refractive corrections on the academic performance of high school children in Lahore.MethodologyA total of 2,000 students with equal distribution of gender, public, private school, and locality were included in the study. All students were screened for defective vision. The academic performance before and after corrections was recorded on the prescribed proforma.ResultsThe prevalence of refractive error was high among the public high schools 244 (59.2%) as compared to the private schools 168 (40.8%). The area-based prevalence was higher among the students in urban settings 255 (62%) while in rural it was 157 (38%). It was found that in the public sector, the average score of academic results before the intervention was 56.39 ± 13.24 which was increased to 60.27 ± 14.94 after the intervention while in the private sector, before the intervention, the average score was 63.53 ± 17.50 which was improved to 67.12 ± 18.48. It was found to be statistically significant at p-value < 0.05.ConclusionA significant impact was observed in the average academic scores of the results after refractive corrections.

Ocular disease amongst patients visiting ophthalmology department

“…There are numerous abrupt and long term concerns related with URE in young age individual and adults including lost educational and employment opportunities, financial problems and poor quality of life. 16 Visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors is a major public health concern and their correction with spectacles is among the most cost effective interventions in eye care. According the results of Latif MA 17 study, carried out in a community based survey at a public sector educational department, refractive errors was present in 20.07% of the population of Lahore.…”

Ethnicity and refractive errors in Peruvian children aged 7–11 years: A five-year analysis of the Demographic and Health Survey

“…REs can cause symptoms such as of blurriness, phantom vision, headaches and asthenopia, and it can also have a negative impact on visual performance, which in turn, has a negative impact on school performance. 31 , 32 In Peru, despite significant improvements in basic education coverage, disparities in learning achievement remain that affect the most disadvantaged. The percentage of second grade students achieving satisfactory performance in reading comprehension in 2016 was 50.9% in urban areas, compared to only 16.5% in rural areas, where most members of Peruvian ethnic minorities reside.…”

Impact of refractive errors and their correction on academic performance of school_age children.

“…The average mean academic performance of the pupils with URE (49.54% ±10.49%) was statistically significantly lower than those without refractive error (71.08 ± 10.09), mean difference = 21.55 (95% confidence interval, 15.18-27.92) (t = 6.70, P = 0.000). Latif et al (2022) aimed to investigate how refractive adjustments affected the academic performance of Lahore high school students. The study had 2,000 pupils in total, evenly distributed among gender, public and private schools, and location.…”