Pattern and Distribution of Ocular Morbidity in Primary School Children of Rural Delhi

Abstract

A total of 679 primary school children drawn from developed southern parts and underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi were examined for ocular morbidity. Their age range was 5-15 years and both sexes had almost equal representation. The prevalence of eye diseases was relatively high. Over 40 percent of all the children studied had one or more ocular problems. Trachoma (18%) was the most common ocular morbidity followed by vitamin A deficiency (10.6%), visual acuity < 6/9 (7.4%) and apparent/latent squint (7.4%). In most of these eye disorders, the majority of the children came from the underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi. Ocular morbidity seems to be unevenly distributed in rural Delhi with a significantly worse picture in the underdeveloped eastern parts, across the river 'Yamuna'. Though blinding trachoma may cease to be a major problem in India, the country continues to have endemic pockets of its non-blinding form. One puzzling observation was that children with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) did not show any specific vulnerability to ocular diseases. In fact, those with normal weight-height index were having a higher share of eye diseases. Though this issue needs to be explored further in the light of biological plausibility, it appears that children who do not have PEM are also exposed to ocular diseases at least with comparable risk.

Prevalance of Ocular Morbidity Among School Children of Perumkadavila Block, Thiruvananthapuram, South Kerala

“…14 In the present study, the prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency was 9.6 percent. In a study at rural North Maharashtra by Jayant D and Malathi, 25.58% Vitamin A deficiency was reported.…”

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“…[17] School children 5-15 years of age, screened for eye morbidity, revealed that trachoma (18%) was the most common ocular morbidity followed by vitamin A deficiency (10.6%), refractive error (7.4%) and apparent / latent squint (7.4%). [18] In an Iranian study it was shown that the prevalence of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism was 29. The prevalence of with-the-rule, against-the-rule, and oblique astigmatism was 14.5%, 4.8% and 1.4%, respectively.…”

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“…4,7,10 Screening of school children is very useful because the uncorrected refractive errors influences on the academic performances of school life and also social life. The long term visual disabilities were minimized by proper eye screening programs.…”