Ankita Aishwarya¹*, Devendra Kumar Shakya² and Prabha Gupta³

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Gajra Raja Medical College (G.R.M.C), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India
²Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Gajra Raja Medical College (G.R.M.C), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India
³Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Gajra Raja Medical College (G.R.M.C), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

*Corresponding Author: Ankita Aishwarya, Department of Ophthalmology, Gajra Raja Medical College (G.R.M.C), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Received: January 05, 2022; Published: March 30, 2022

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the pattern of ocular morbidity in children less than 18 years.

Methods: An out patient (OPD) department based prospective observational and interventional study was done from July 2016 to June 2018.

Results: A total of 5000 children out of which 2960 (59.2%) were males and 2040 (40.8%) were females. These children were divided into groups based on age: 0-3 years, >3-7 years, > 7-11 years, >11-15 years, >15-18 years. Maximum number of children who attended OPD were from age group >7-11years and >11-15 years which was 1100 (22%). The most common cause of ocular morbidity was refractive error (34.4%) followed by ocular injury (12.2%), Vitamin A deficiency and conjunctivitis (6.8%), squint without amblyopia (5.6%), corneal opacity (4.8%), blepharitis (4.4%), squint with amblyopia (4.2%)and cataract (4.2%) and so on. Children under low vision category were 740 (14.8%), with economic blindness were 425 (8.5%), with social blindness were 122 (2.4%), manifest blindness were seen in 64 (1.2%) and absolute blindness were seen in 39 (0.78%).Overall 27.8% (1390) children were in category of blindness. In 190 (3.8%) children vision was indeterminable due to newborns, uncooperativeness, mentally handicapped or semi-conscious state.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the most common cause of ocular morbidity was refractive error. Most of the studies included school screening method but this can miss congenital malformations as most of these children don’t go to school. Most common cause of absolute blindness was developmental followed by ocular trauma which in most cases can be preventable. Small awareness among parents can prevent devastating change in their child life..

Keywords: Ocular Morbidity; Epidemiology; Refractive Error; Strabismus; Visual Impairment in Children

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Citation

Citation: Ankita Aishwarya., et al. “Pattern of Ocular Morbidity and Visual Disability in Children Attending Eye Out Patient Department in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh".Acta Scientific Ophthalmology 5.4 (2022): 83-91.

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Copyright: © 2022 Ankita Aishwarya., 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.