Assessment of the Prevalence of Refractive Error among School Children (6-16 Years) of Rural Field Practice Area of Kims, Malkapur, Karad

Introduction: Refractive errors are among vital causes of visual disability globally and second principal cause of preventable blindness. Refractive errors among school children remains unnoticed which have an impact on overall development of child. This study has been undertaken to estimate the prevalence of refractive errors among school going children (6- 16 years). Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in schools of Karad from October 2017 to May 2019. Sample size was determined to be 750. School Going Children of age 6-16 years of selected schools in the rural field practice area of KIMS, Karad fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were screened on school visit. All suspected students were called to Out Patient Department and subjected to Snellen’s chart, pin-hole test, torch light examination, slit lamp examination, manual refractrometry, direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy and cyclopegic refraction (retinoscopy followed by post mydriatic test) to detect refractive error in children. A questionnaire was structured to gather relevant information from the students.Data was collected from the students after informed consent. Results: Prevelance of Refractive Errors was 8.4%. Most frequent refractive error found was Myopia (60.3%) followed by Astigmatism (23.8%) and Hypermetropia (15.9%) . It shows that only 20.63% students were wearing spectacles whereas remaining 79.37% students were unaware of their problems. Conclusion: Visual impairment due to refractive error should be addressed as early as possible, which is attainable only by screening at initial age and hence early recognition and management.