Prevalence of myopia and its risk factors in school going children

Abstract

: To identify the prevalence of myopia and its risk factor among the school going children.Study sample included school going children between 5 and 16 years of age. We recorded degree of myopia by autorefractometer and streak retinoscopy after mydriasis, and students with refractive error of ≥-0.5 D for at least one eye were considered as myopic. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were followed.A total of 764 children were considered for the study. Prevalence of childhood myopia in hospital based study was 16.5 % with male to female ratio 53:47. Headache was most common complain for hospital visit. Most common age group affected was 7-12 and 13-16 years. In 18.53% of patients family history was present.Due to high magnitude of uncorrected myopia, it appears to be a public health problem both in urban areas, which suggest that an increase in outdoor activity may help to reduce the magnitude of the problem.