A study on the prevalence of refractive errors among school going adolescent children in chidambaram

Abstract

Introduction: Vision disorders are the fourth most common Disability of children and the leading cause of handicap in childhood.  Refractive error is one of the most common causes of visual impairment around the world and is the second major cause of treatable blindness.

Objective: To find out the prevalence of refractive errors among school children of 10-18 years of age group and the association between select socio demographic variables and refractive error.

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 1225 school children of Ramakrishna Vidhyalaya School Chidambaram .The magnitude of refractive error was assessed using snellen’s chart and confirmed by refractionist.

 Results:  The prevalence of refractive errors in the school children in the age group of 10-18 years was 13.31%. The prevalence of myopia increases as age increases i.e : 10.0% in the 10 -12 years and it increased to 15.6% in 13-15 year age group. No significant gender difference in the prevalence of refractive error was observed. There was significant association between variables such as age and family income.

Conclusion:  The prevalence of undetected refractive error was high among school children and if it is identified early the intervention can be provided as early as possible.

Key words: visual impairment, snellen’s chart, refractive error.