Refractive Errors in School Going Children – Data from A School Screening Survey Programme

Authors

  • Harpal Singh People’s College of Medical Sciences and Research, Bhopal
  • V K Saini People’s College of Medical Sciences and Research, Bhopal
  • Akhilesh Yadav People’s College of Medical Sciences and Research, Bhopal
  • Bharti Soni People’s College of Medical Sciences and Research, Bhopal

Keywords:

Refractive error, amblyopia, myopia

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of blindness in children ranges from approximately 0.3/1000 children in affluent regions to 1.5/1000 in the poorest communities. the importance of early detection and treatment of ocular diseases and visual impairment in young is obvious.

Aim and objective - The basic aim of this study was to assess the status of refractive errors in school going children through school screening program.

Method: the study was done on students aged 05 years to 15 years, selected randomly from rural and urban schools in and around the periphery of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Result: A total of 18,500 children were screened, Out of them 10730 were boys (58.00%) and rest 7770 (42.00%) were girls. Ocular morbidity (refractory errors) was found in 2422(13.09%) children out of which 1059 (5.72%) were boys and 1363(7.36%) were girls. Of these there were a total of 1,313 myopes ; 740 hypermetropes ; 277 with astigmatism and 92 amblyopic children.

Conclusion: school screening program is an effective way to detect the causes of visual impairment in school children.

References

Gilbert C, Rahi J, Quinn G. Visual impairment and blindness in children. In: Johnson, Minassian, Weale, West, editors. Epidemiology of eye disease. 2nd edition UK: Arnold Publishers; 2003.

World Health Organization, Global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness. WHO/PBL/97.61. Geneva: WHO; 1997.

Greenwald MJ. Refractive abnormalities in childhood. Ped Clinic N Am 2003;50:197-212.

Chandra DB, Swarup D, Shrivastav RK .prevalence and pattern along with socioeconomic factor of myopia in school-going children 8 to 16 years. Indian J Ophalmol 1982;30:517-518.

Greenwald MJ .Refractive abnormalities in childhood . Ped Clinic N Am 2003;50:197-212.

Rubin SE ,Nelson LB .Amlyopia- Diagnosis and management . Ped Clinic N Am 1993;40:727-735.

Rahi JS, Gilbert CE, Foster A, Minassian D. Measuring the burden of childhood blindness. British journal of ophthalmology 1999;83:387-

Spoward KM ,Simmers A ,Tappin DM .Vision testing in school: an evaluation of personnel ,test and premises. J Med Screening 1998;5:131-132.

Murthy, GVS, Gupta, SK, Ellwein, LB, Refractive error in children in an urban population in New Delhi Investigative Ophthalmology Visual Science 2002( 43),623-631

Kalikivayi V ,Opt B,Naduvilath TJ,etal. Visual impairment in school children in southern India .Indian J Ophthalmol 1997;45:129-134.

Dandona R, Dandona L, Naduvilath TJ, shriniwas M ,Me Carty CA, Rao GN : Refractive errors in an urban population in southern India: The Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study .Investigative Ophthalmology Visual Sciences, 1999; 40(12),2810-2818.

Downloads

Published

2013-03-31

How to Cite

1.
Singh H, Saini VK, Yadav A, Soni B. Refractive Errors in School Going Children – Data from A School Screening Survey Programme. Natl J Community Med [Internet]. 2013 Mar. 31 [cited 2024 Dec. 21];4(01):137-40. Available from: https://njcmindia.com/index.php/file/article/view/1478

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles