Incidence of refractive error and other ocular aberrations in school children in Delhi, INDIA

Dr Manju Jain Verma PhD, MS; Dr Ruma Gupta MS

Introduction:
The authors have aimed to screen around fifty thousand school kids aged between 5-10 years for any ocular aberrations. The targets were to identify the reasons responsible for low vision (refractive errors, amblyopia and squints) that could be managed medically and in some cases surgically. We selected the schools belonging to rural and urban areas across different socio-economic backgrounds.

Methods:
After obtaining permission from school principals, a team of' specialist, optometrist and ophthalmic assistant screened children for refractive errors, amblyopia, squints and color vision defects using standard techniques.

Results:
Refractive errors revealed to be the most prevalent aberration accounting for 87.89% of total ocular aberrations. Since July 2006-Oct 10 we have completed screening 18,463 students of 5-10 year old. Out of these ocular aberrations (18.36%) refractive error of various type and severity was seen in 87.98% of total abnormal cases. Amblyopia also contributed 6.71% while color blindness was noted in 4.81%.

Discussion
Refractive Errors have much higher incidence in Asia including Indian Subcontinent. The major advantage of early detection is to isolate and treat amblyopia restoring binocular vision in addition to improvement in visual acuity. Similarly identifying color vision defects will provide parents an understanding about planning an appropriate career for their children.

Summary
We hope to have data for around 5000 students in another 4 months.