Samuel Chibueze Osuji¹*, Eunice Ifeyinwa Agwa² and Francis Onyekwere³

¹Department of Healthcare Mission and Research, Samsuji Global Rescue (Sagre) Foundation Inc, Owerri, Nigeria Department of Public Health, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, and Department of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, King David University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
²Department of Dispensing Opticianry, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
³Department of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Madonna University Nigeria, Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Samuel Chibueze Osuji, Department of Healthcare Mission and Research, Samsuji Global Rescue (Sagre) Foundation Inc, Owerri, Nigeria Department of Public Health, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, and Department of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, King David University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Received: November 29, 2021; Published: November 18, 2022

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors among school aged children in a Semiurban community of Rantya, Jos, Northern Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed where a total of 350 children of ages 11 to 19 years, were conveniently sampled. Visual acuity was assessed monocularly using Snellen’s chart at 6 metres testing distance. Uncorrected refractive error was defined as an unaided distance visual acuity of 6/9 or less which improved with pinhole. With ethical considerations observed, Ophthalmoscopy was done to rule out pathologies, while Retinoscopy and subjective refraction were also performed to establish refractive anomalies. Data obtained was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Ver.16), and tested using descriptive statistic. P-Value of 0.05 or < was taken to be significant.

Results: Out of the 350 participants examined, comprising of 156 (44.6%) males and 194 (55.4%) females, 78 persons presented with uncorrected refractive errors, puting the overall prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors to 22.3%. Among these persons with uncorrected refractive errors, females 50(64.1%) were more than males 28 (35.9%), and this was not statistically significant (p = 0.123). The age range of 14 - 16 (n = 37, 47.4%) had the highest proportion of uncorrected refractive errors but it was not also statistically significant (p > 0.05). The pattern of uncorrected refractive errors showed that Myopia was the most prevalent uncorrected refractive error with 35 (44.9%) persons, while compound Astigmatism with 5(6.4%) persons was the least. About 272 (77.7%) of the study population were Emmetropic with visual acuity of 6/9 and above while 78 (22.3%) of participants had uncorrected refractive errors with visual acuity of 6/12 or less which improved to 0.9% when presented with pin hole.

Conclusion: Since most children with uncorrected refractive error are asymptomatic, screening helps in early diagnosis and timely intervention through vision screening is advocated.

Keywords: Prevalence; Refractive Errors; Children; Northern Nigeria

References

Citation

Citation: Samuel Chibueze Osuji., et al. “Prevalence and Pattern of Uncorrected Refractive Errors among School Aged Children in a Semi- Urban Community of Northern Nigeria".Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.12 (2022): 33-38.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Samuel Chibueze Osuji., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.