Assessment on the Prevalence of Color Vision Deficiency among Selected Primary School (1-8) Children in East Bale Zone, Ethiopia

Color vision deficiency is one of the commonest disorders of vision and can be divided into congenital and acquired forms. The complex color perceptions, human eye which are initiated by rods and cones in the retina and completed by impulse integration in the brain. The color blindness is inability of identifying colors and its prevalence varies between populations. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of (CVD) Color vision deficiency among primary school children in selected districts of East Bale zone Oromia, Ethiopia. 950 students from grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 participated in the study. Among these, 570 were females and 380 were males and their ages range from 9 to 23 years. Students who have volunteered and a written consent from their parents or guardians were included in the study. The test of color vision was used Ishihara 38 plates and subjects were asked to sit in a room with sufficient light and read the figures/symbols on the plates from a computer screen placed 75 cm away from the subject. The data were manually arranged and frequencies were calculated. Among the 950 students tested, 41(4.84%) have color vision defect, and these included 19(2%) males and 7 (0.74%) females. These 19 males with color blindness include, 4(0.59 achromatopsia, 21(3.10 deutan, 13(1.92 protan and1 (0.11%) unclassified(combined form). Female colorblind includes achromatopsia 0(0.00)deutan 2 (1.2) protan 1(0.11%) and 1(0.11%) unclassified. The plate number 16and 17 Students can read are grouped under unclassified different from what red-green colorblind students read. Chi square (χ2 ) test was used to assess statistical significances and p-values of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. The prevalence of color blindness was observed higher in males than in females. Teaching institutions screening students is recommended for color vision deficiency, so that they can provide the necessary assistance to such students 4<br>