Uncorrected refractive errors in Senegalese school‐aged children

Abstract

Aims/Purpose: To assess the visual health and the prevalence of visual impairment (VI) due to uncorrected refractive errors, the most common cause of VI in developing countries, in Senegalese school‐aged children.Methods: Through the campaign carried out by the Spanish NGO “Azul en Acción” in Senegal (Africa), a total of 235 children aged 6–14 years from four schools were examined. Ocular abnormalities and uncorrected distance visual acuity (VA) were analysed and VI was defined as presenting visual acuity worse than 0.3 logMAR in any of the eyes (Bourne et al. 2022). In children with VA worse than 0.3 logMAR, refractive error was measuring by retinoscopy and subjective refraction and defined using spherical equivalents (SE).Results: A total of 235 Senegalese children aged from 6 to 14 years (mean ± SD, 8.7 ± 2.4 years‐old) were examined. Of them, 15.3% of the children (N = 46) were affected of VI, most of them due to uncorrected refractive errors, easily resolved with spectacles (N = 37, 76.9%). The mean value of SE was +0.42 ± 1.18 D, with myopia as the least frequent ametropia (N = 13, 29.7%). Only 9 VI‐children did not improve the VA with optical prescription and were referred to hospital for a whole ocular examination.Conclusions: The prevalence of VI in Senegalese children is very low, as well as the incidence of infant myopia compared to developed countries (Sankaridurg et al., 2021). However, little was known about visual health in Senegalese children and this results confirm the need for early eye care practitioner interventions in developing countries to prevent and treat VI due to uncorrected refractive errors.