A cross-sectional study of types of refractive errors in school-going children aged 5–14 years

Objectives: The objective is to investigate the percentage of different types of refractive errors in school-going children aged 5–14 years at a tertiary eye care centre in Western India. Primary objective: To determine the percentage of different types of refractive errors in school-going children aged 5–14 years. Secondary objectives: (1) To determine demographic variation of types of refractive error based on gender and geographical location. (2) To determine the family history of refractive error as a risk factor for the development of refractive error. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done in a tertiary eye care centre in Western India after obtaining ethical approval from the institutional ethics committee. A convenience sampling method was used. Data from 402 eyes of 201 children with refractive error satisfying the selection criteria were collected and analysed. Results: The mean age of the children was 11.01 years, with a standard deviation of 2.44 years. Of 402 eyes examined, the frequency of simple myopia was 28.61%, simple myopic astigmatism was 11.94%, compound myopic astigmatism was 40.05%, simple hypermetropia was 3.73%, simple hypermetropic astigmatism was 5.47%, compound hypermetropic astigmatism was 4.48% and mixed astigmatism was 3.98%. Out of 402 eyes examined, 7 eyes did not have any refractive errors, which constituted 1.74% of the total eyes. The prevalence is higher in the Central Zone of Ahmedabad and among the 9–12 age group. In our study, we found out that compound myopic astigmatism is more prevalent. The secondary outcomes of our study are as follows: The maximum number of patients was seen in the age group of 9–12 years (198/402 i.e. 49.25%). This result was statistically significant at P = 0.001. The most common refractive error in this age group was found to be myopia (<−3D) (all categories), which is 50.5% of the total children seen in the 9–12 years age group ( P = 0.001). This result can be explained by the use of electronic devices in children for online classes, etc. The result was not statistically significant for gender. In our study, the maximum number of children with refractive errors was from the central zone of Ahmedabad (138/402, i.e., 34.32%). The P value was statistically significant at 0.005. This can be explained by the fact that our hospital is located in the central zone of Ahmedabad; thus, the patients from the catchment area were more. In our study, the family history was positive in 129 out of 333 myopic eyes, which is 38.73%, and 6 out of 62 hypermetropic eyes, i.e., 9.67%. This result was statistically significant at a P = 0.001 Conclusion: Regular screening of refractive error is recommended among school-going children, especially in children with a positive family history of refractive error.