Prevalence and associations of Refractive errors among School children in a rural Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/tnhj.v24i2.822Keywords:
Eye screening, refractive error, eye disorders, school children, Ogun stateAbstract
Background: Poor vision limits a child’s ability to learn and reach the highest potential in life. Ensuring comprehensive eye examination before enrolling children in schools will go a long way in reducing the prevalence of uncorrected refractive error in society and possibly improve school performance of these children. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of refractive error among primary six and junior secondary school students and identify uncorrected refractive error and other eye disorders.
Method: This is a cross-sectional analytical study conducted on school children in Imosan of Odogbolu Local Government Area in Nigeria. History about vision, visual impairment and its correction was established from the students. Eye examination and on-the spot refraction were performed, and the data was analyzed using SPSS version 21.
Result: Five hundred and seventy-three students (573) were examined, and 72.8% were from public schools. Ninety-two (16.1%) students had refractive error and of these 60.3% were from private schools, 89% were cases of myopia while 8.2% had anisometropia. Fifty-four (21.4%) of 252 girls pretended to have refractive error due to substandard initial visual acuity which became normal after putting a plano lens in the trial frame during subjective refraction. 1.7% had allergic conjunctivitis and other ocular diseases. Sixty-four (12.8%) students had undetected refractive errors before secondary school entry.
Conclusion: The prevalence of uncorrected refractive error was 16.1% and myopia was most common. Eye screening before enrollment into secondary school will help to identify and correct those with pre-existing refractive errors.
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