Prevalence of astigmatism in school going children in a tertiary eye hospital

Background: Astigmatism is a type of refractive error due to distorted and irregularity of cornea. Now a days its frequency is increasing among school going children. Purpose: To assess the prevalence of astigmatism and to find the most common type of astigmatism among school going children. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary eye hospital in Bangladesh from October, 2024 to April, 2025. The investigator will maintain pre design data and data were analyzed by SPSS software. A comprehensive eye examination was used to analyze the refractive error including astigmatism. The research was approved by the institutional review board and the ethics committee of Gopalganj Eye Hospital and Training Institute. Results: We examined 1000 eyes of 500 students including male 478 (47.8%) eyes and female 522 eyes (52.2%). Astigmatism was seen in 417 eyes (41.7%) which was more frequent than all type of refractive error. Among all type of astigmatism compound myopic astigmatism was mostly seen in about 210 eyes (50.36%). Among the axis of astigmatism with the rule astigmatism was seen in 302 eyes (72.42%) which were more frequent in 13 to 16 years age group both in male and females. Among the amount of astigmatism ± 0.25 to 1.00 Diopter cylinder was the most common which was present in 224 eyes (53.72%). Conclusion: With the rule astigmatism and compound myopic astigmatism were more common among males and females and maximum in the age group of 13-16 years of age in this study which was conducted in a tertiary hospital where mostly the children come from Southern part of Bangladesh. It is important to study in future to evaluate further the causer and magnitude of astigmatism and increase awareness among parents of school going children for timely screening about refractive status. J.Natl.Inst.Ophthalmol.2025;8(1): 27-31