Abstract
Introduction: Visual impairment affects students’ routine schoolwork and day-to-day activities.Hence, the aim is to study the prevalence of various refractive errors and their comparison amongschool children of 5-15 years in rural and urban areas. Methods: This cross-sectional studyexamined 998 students from both rural and urban schools. After obtaining ethical clearance andinformed consent, students were examined for refractive errors. The students with the refractiveerror were given a socio-demographic questionnaire and questionnaire regarding their usage oftelevision, computer, and family history of refractive errors. A Chi-square test was used to test thestatistical significance of proportions. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant, anddata were analyzed by using coGuide software, V.1.03 Results: The prevalence of refractive errorwas found to be 6.41 %, with a prevalence of 7.61% in urban and 5.21% in rural areas. Thedifference in the type of refractive error between the study groups was found to be insignificant,with P= 0.897. Conclusion: Prevalence of refractive errors was more in urban school children thanrural. Refractive error was more prevalent in 13-15 years age group in both rural and urban schoolchildren. The most common refractive error was myopia, followed by astigmatism andhypermetropia.
Highlights
Visual impairment affects students’ routine schoolwork and day-to-day activities
The aim is to study the prevalence of various refractive errors and their comparison among school children of 5-15 years in rural and urban areas
The students with the refractive error were given a socio-demographic questionnaire and questionnaire regarding their usage of television, computer, and family history of refractive errors
Summary
Visual impairment affects students’ routine schoolwork and day-to-day activities. the aim is to study the prevalence of various refractive errors and their comparison among school children of 5-15 years in rural and urban areas. Visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors can lead to short-term and long-term consequences in adults and children, like loss of educational and career opportunities for individuals, families, and societies, and result in a poor quality of life It may affect a child’s interaction and learning in the classroom and harm his or her learning process.[4,5] 25% of the population in developing countries include children of the schoolgoing age group, which fall under the preventable age group for correction of refractive errors.[6] It has been estimated that 19 million children are visually impaired; of these, visual impairment due to refractive errors accounts for 12 million.[7] Blindness and visual impairment in childhood are more important and perhaps more disabling than adult-onset blindness because of the long span of life and their permanent effects on the developing eyes.[6] Children are not aware of the problem and usually do not complain of defective vision. This necessitates early detection and treatment of ocular morbidity and visual impairment to prevent permanent visual defects.[8]
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