Prevalence of Amblyopia in Hawler Eye Teaching Hospital

Background and objectives: Amblyopia is defined as impairment of vision in the absence of ocular pathology that could be unilateral the most common or bilateral less common. This study aimed to settle the prevalence and causes of amblyopia in Hawler Eye Teaching Hospital in Erbil City, Iraq. For the age between 6-12 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 300 students are included in this study, in Hawler Eye Teaching Hospital from the 1stof October 2022 to 1st of April 2023. History and Clinical examination of anterior and posterior segment for all children are done. Autorefraction and visual acuity with E-letter LED smart visual system with monocular unaided trial and then aided trial for best corrected visual acuity children with less than 6/6 cyclopentolate eye drop 1% used for cycloplegic refraction. Results: The prevalence of amblyopia was (25.3%) of the total sample (n=300). The most prevalent causes of amblyopia were refractive error (96.05%), and strabismus (23.7%). Males were more affected by amblyopia with (60.53%) while females affected with amblyopia were (39.5%) with no statistically significant difference in gender with amblyopia (P 0.916).The age more frequently had amblyopia was seven and eight (18.4%), (18.4%) respectively, the different age groups had no statistically significant difference in amblyopic patients (P 0.377). Conclusion: The prevalence of amblyopia among children between 6-12 years in Hawler Eye Teaching Hospital was high. This needs school screening tests with a qualified medical team, and increase parents' awareness about the necessity of regular vision checking for children with amblyopia for better results.