A STUDY OF REFRACTIVE ERRORS IN CHILDREN AND UNMET NEED OF SPECTACLES IN THEM

AIM– to study causes of vision impairment in school going children, with focus on refractive errors and to study the unmet need of spectacles in them. Prospective analysis of 500 children (up to 14METHOD– years of age) visiting a tertiary care teaching Institute in Ahmedabad who were willing to comply with the procedure of the study were enrolled in the study. Refractive error was the main cause in 58.6% of eyes with vision impairment, amblyopia inRESULTS– 15.2% while other causes in 4.3%. Out of which, maximum number of children had astigmatism (200), followed by Myopia (160) and Hypermetropia (70). In the performed study, more than half of those in need of corrective spectacles were without them. Among different types of refractive error, the greatest likelihood for an unmet need was found with myopia followed by hyperopia, while the association with astigmatism, although signicant, was the weakest. There was a benetCONCLUSION– of spectacles in 70% (unmet need) of those who had visual acuity 6/12 or worse in the better eye at the initial examination. Only 18.6% of the children having refractive error were wearing appropriate glasses.