A Study on Prevalence and Risk Factors of Refractive Errors among Undergraduate Medical Students in a Tertiary Care Hospital of West Bengal

Background: Refractive error among the young students is becoming a major problem worldwide. Uncorrected refractive error can have huge social, psychological, economic, and developmental implications. The study aimed to estimate prevalence of diagnosed refractive errors among the undergraduate medical students of Burdwan Medical College, Purba Bardhaman district and risk factors associated with it. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate medical students of Burdwan Medical College of Purba Bardhaman district, West Bengal, during period from April 2022 to May 2022. A calculated sample of 294 students were selected by complete enumeration and interviewed with a predesigned, pretested questionnaire. Results: Out of 294 study participants 170 (57.8%) were suffering from Refractive errors. As per categorization of refractive error, 66.5% had simple myopia, 28.8% had myopia with astigmatism, 3.5% had simple hypermetropia and 1.2% had hypermetropia with astigmatism. Among the 162 Myopic subjects most 111 (68.5%) had Low (0 to -3) degree of Myopia in Right eye and 110 (67.9%) had the same in the left eye. 42 (26%) and 41 (25.4%) had Moderate degree of Myopia in right and left eye respectively. 8 (4.9%) and 10 (6.1%) had High degree of Myopia in right and left eye respectively. 0.6% of the participants did not have any power in either right eye or left eye. No statically significant difference of physical activity on a daily basis (for more than 5 times per week) and presence of Myopia was found. Conclusion: Prevalence of Refractive errors among the under graduate medical students was 57.8% in eastern India.