PREVALENCE OF EYE DISORDERS IN CHILDREN OF 5 – 16 YEARS AGE GROUP,IN DISTRICT DEHRADUN.

Dr Aditi Sharma, Dr Amit Maitreya, Dr Jayanti Semwal Prof Harsh Bahadur

Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences , HIHT University.

INTRODUCTION

In the world today, a child goes blind every minute. Upto

60% die within one year of becoming blind.

Blindness in children accounts for one third of the economic cost of blindnes.Although, it represents less than 4% of the overall magnitude of blindness.

WHO estimates incidence of childhood blindness as 0.75 per 1000 children

The leading causes of visual impairment in children are :

refractive errors

vitamin A deficiency

congenital cataract

retinal conditions and others.

Hence, keeping in view of all the above this study was done.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To find out the prevalence of eye disorders in children of 5-16 years age group .

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The proposed study was conducted by the Department of Ophthalmology, HIMS, Dehradun

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

SAMPLING: Multistage stratified random sampling.

SETTING: Government and Private Schools in the Doiwalablock of Dehradun.

PARTICIPANTS: 5918 students ; 3462 males and 2456 females .

• First stage: Out of the 13 zones in the Doiwala block, 6 (46%) were selected

• Out of 42 schools , 21 (50%) were randomly selected.

Second Stage:

The visual acuity was measured using Snellen’s chart by an Optometrist.

Initially, a torch light examination was done by an ophthalmologist at the school.

o Children with visual acuity less than 6/9 in either eye, and any other ocular disorder were refferred to HIMS.

Interpretation and analysis of the data : Epi Info Software and chi-square test was used.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400N

um

be

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f Ch

ild

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School

School wise distribution of children

Male

Female

RESULTS

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Group I(5-7) GroupII(8-10) GroupIII(11-13) GroupIV(14-16)

331431

717

1983

294 333

662

1167

Male

Female

TOTAL OF 5918 CHILDREN : 3462 MALES AND 2456 FEMALES WERE INCLUDED

AGE AND SEXWISE DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN

AGE IN YEARS

NU

MB

ER

OF

CH

ILD

RE

N

Age Group wise distribution of children with ocular morbidity

Age group Ocular Morbidity present Total

Group I (5-7 years) 32 (5%) 625

Group II (8-10 years) 58 (7.5%) 764

Group III (11 -13 years) 84 (6%) 1379

Group IV(14 -16 years) 117 (3.7%) 3150

Total 291 (4.92%) 5918

MAXIMUM CHILDREN WERE IN GROUP II AND MINIMUM IN GROUP

IV

Overall, the ocular morbidity was more in children less than 10 years of age (6.48%)

As the age increased (>10 years), children with ocular morbidity decreased (4.4%).

This relationship was found to be statistically significant, with a p value <0.05.

Sex wise distribution of children with Ocular Morbidity

159

3462

Male

132

2456

Female

Ocular Morbidity present Total

There was no statistically significant relationship between sex and ocular morbidity with a p value >0.05.

93

16

1210

4 33 2 1

3 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 0

71

16

12 13

3 3 2 2 3 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100N

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Ocular Diseases

DISTRIBUTION OF OCULAR DISEASES

Male

Female

CONCLUSION This study was the first of its kind done in Uttarakhand and

more studies can be done at a larger scale for future strategic planning………..

With increase in age, there is a decrease in the ocular morbidity.

Hence children in younger age group should be examined more meticulously and patiently……

Refractive error was the commonest cause of ocular morbidity

Effective methods of vision screening in school children are useful in detecting correctable causes of decreased vision,, especially refractive errors and in minimizing long-term visual disability..

THANK YOU