Prevalence of Congenital Red-Green Color Vision Defects among Various Ethnic Groups of Students in Erbil City

Abstract

The incidence of color blindness varies from race to race and in different geographical area. Since, there is no such report about the prevalence of color blindness in the Kurdistan region (North of Iraq), the present study had been conducted to find out the incidence of color blindness among preliminary, secondary and college students of Erbil city, Kurdistan region – Iraq. Participant’s (n=1856, 1275 males, 581 females, age group 7 to 25 years) color vision was tested by using Ishihara chart. Among 1275 male students, 108 students (8.47%) were found to be color blind: 42 of them showed deuteranomalia, 39 protanomalia, 20 deuteranopia and 7 protanopia. Among 581 female students, 8 females (1.37%) were found to be color blind: 5 of them showed protanomalia, 2 deuteranomalia and 1 deuteranopia. Data observed by Chi-square test showed there was no significant difference between ethnic groups of both male and female students. Studies on color blindness in Kurdistan region are very few; we hope this student-based investigation is meant to fill a gap in this field.