Prevalence of refractive error among school children in North-West Rajasthan

Abstract

Purpose : To study the prevalence and relative frequency of refractive error among school children in North west Rajasthan so that an effective approach can be planned to tackle the burden of readily correctable refraction problems. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to study the magnitude of refractive errors among school children in North-west Rajasthan. Results : A total of 1078 children were examined. The subjects consist of 702 females (65.1%) and 376 males (34.9%). The children were aged 519 years (mean = 9.8 3.2 years, 95% confidence interval [CI] 9.610.0) 265 children representing 24.6% (95% CI: 21.927.8%) of the children examined had refractive errors. This comprises of astigmatism (n=134 ,12.4%),followed by myopia(n= 68,6.3%) and hyperopia(n= 63 ,5.8%), of the 1078 children examined. Conclusion: Refractive error was found in 24.6% of the subjects, astigmatism being the most common followed by myopia and hyperopia. Cost-effective strategies for vision screening of school children should be incorporated into the school health programmes to prevent devastating impact of visual impairment on a childs education and development.