Refractive error in school children in armed forces community in Goa

Refractive errors are common among school children and are the second leading cause of treatable blindness. Uncorrected refractive errors are responsible for visual impairment, and remain prevalent even in high income countries. Aim: To estimate the refractive errors in school age children attending the ophthalmology outpatient department of a secondary care hospital in Goa. Settings and Design: Cross sectional study. Materials and Methods: All school children 5 to 16 years of age attending the eye OPD of a Secondary Care Hospital at Goa were examined for refractive errors. Children with defective vision were further examined using auto-refractometer followed by streak retinoscopy after instilling 1% cyclopentolate eye drops. Children were further categorized according to the type of refractive error on post mydriatic examination. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS version 17. Chi square test was done and p value <0.005 was considered as significant. Results: A total of 1472 children were screened out of which 107 children (7.2%) had refractive errors. Of the total males and females examined 51.2% and 48.7% respectively had refractive errors. Most of the children presented with myopia 70 (65.4%) followed by hypermetropia 20(18.7%) & astigmation 17(15.8%). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of refractive error between males and females. The prevalence increased with age. The single most common refractive error was myopia, followed by hypermetropia and then astigmatism. Conclusions: Refractive error is one of the leading causes of treatable blindness in school age children. There is a need to have regular vision testing in school children