Prevalence of Congenital Red-Green Color Vision Defects among Various Ethnic Groups of Students in Erbil City

Abstract

The incidence of color blindness varies from race to race and in different geographical area. Since, there is no such report about the prevalence of color blindness in the Kurdistan region (North of Iraq), the present study had been conducted to find out the incidence of color blindness among preliminary, secondary and college students of Erbil city, Kurdistan region-Iraq. Participant's (n=1856, 1275 males, 581 females, age group 7 to 25 years) color vision was tested by using Ishihara chart. Among 1275 male students, 108 students (8.47%) were found to be color blind: 42 of them showed deuteranomalia, 39 protanomalia, 20 deuteranopia and 7 protanopia. Among 581 female students, 8 females (1.37%) were found to be color blind: 5 of them showed protanomalia, 2 deuteranomalia and 1 deuteranopia. Data observed by Chi-square test showed there was no significant difference between ethnic groups of both male and female students. Studies on color blindness in Kurdistan region are very few; we hope this student-based investigation is meant to fill a gap in this field.

Prevalence of Color Vision Deficiency among Students in Hajand and Amad High Schools in Shekhan City

“…Thus, all reds, greens, oranges, browns, purples, blues and grays will be impossible to identify precisely [11]. This study revealed that prevalence of CVD among male students was (6.36), Three previous studies from Iraq showed results near to this study result , prevalence rate among the students of Erbil City of (8.47) , among adults in Baghdad (6.75), and (8.19) among children from Basrah province [8,12,13]. Results from all these studies situated within the anticipated range for Caucasian males; about 8.0-10.0% of the Caucasian male population is affected [14].…”

“…In large study in India, researchers found that 7.95% deutans and 3.22% protans [26], In Jordan, 12 of cases of deutan and 7 cases of protans [15], In Nepal , 16 cases out of 19 cases of deutan types [27] , In study done in Philippine , (78.95%)of cases of CVD of deutan types [28]. In Erbil, cases of deutans are slightly more than cases of protans [8].while a Turkish study has reported about 5.10% protans and 2.23% deutans among male [29]. Because, the CVD is inherited the condition, its allocation is likely to be changeable among ethnic groups.…”

“…However, Shah et al found high prevalence of CVD among Indian Muslim population which may be related to higher percentages of consanguineous marriages [30], Dahlan and Mostafa investigated CVD among male secondary students in Jizan city in Saudi Arabia , they found significantly higher prevalence of CVD among students who parents' were closely related [31]. Kareem and Saleem concluded that there was no any significant differences among different ethnics in Erbil city for both male and female students regarding the prevalence of CVD [8], another study conducted in China concluded that no significant difference was detected in the prevalence of CVD in males between Uygur and Han nationalities [32]. In the USA, a population-based study revealed that significant ethnicity-related differences in the distribution of CVD among male preschools [33].…”

“…The prevalence of CVD in Erbil province, Kurdistan Region has been studied by Kareem and Saleem in 2013.They conduct a study to find out the prevalence of CVD among students of different educational levels in Erbil city. They found (8.47%) of male students and (1.37%) of female students had CVD [8]. There is no any report or document about the prevalence of CVD in Duhok province, so this study was done to give an initial reference of CVD in this Province especially in Shekhan city, where different ethnics lived together.…”

Frequency of color blindness in pre-employment screening in a tertiary health care center in Pakistan

“…[7][8][9] Internationally reported overall CVD differs in different races and geographical areas. 7,10 Health care workers with color deficiencies experience difficulties in identifying changes in body color such as pallor, cyanosis, jaundice and erythema.…”