A Study on the Prevalence of Refractive Errors among School Children of 10-16 years in Surendranagar District, Gujarat
AUTHOR:
Parmar, A., Kartha, G. and Baria, M.
SPONSOR/INSTITUTION:
YEAR PUBLISHED:
2017
PUBLICATION:
International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of refractive errors among school children in Surendranagar district.
This was a cross-sectional study conducted with children aged 10-16 years in urban and rural schools of Surendranagar district.
The overall prevalence of refractive errors among the study group was 29.5%.
The most common symptom of visual impairment was headache reported by 38.58% children.
The study found moderate visual impairment in 36.54% boys and 36.98% girls.
The study found severe visual impairment in 4.80% boys and 2.75% girls.
Of all the children with refractive errors, 61.02% children did not use spectacles for vision correction.
Children aged 10-16 years are vulnerable to refractive errors and many of them are not aware of the refractive errors.