Prevalence of refractive errors in Upper Egypt schoolchildren

Abstract

Purpose To determine the prevalence, types, and magnitude of refractive errors (RE) among the sampled-children population in Upper Egypt. Patients and methods In this cross-sectional study, 14 787 students of 22 primary schools in three governorates in Upper Egypt (Qena, Luxor, and Aswan) were examined and their cycloplegic refraction had been documented. These schools were distributed between urban (seven schools represented by 5289 students) and rural (15 schools represented by 9498 students) areas. Results According to the present study, the overall prevalence of REs was 11.7% among examined primary schoolchildren. REs were more prevalent in rural schoolchildren (15.5%) than urban (5.5%), in students between 6 and 9 years (12.1%) other than those between 9 and 12 years (11.1%) and were the most vulnerable to have amblyopia. Total REs decreased with age, it reached 13.8% in first-grade and 10.2% among the sixth-grade schoolchildren. Aswan students had the highest prevalence, 24.9%, followed by Qena 5.3% and the least was Luxor governorate by 4.4%. Conclusions The overall prevalence of REs among primary schoolchildren in Upper Egypt was 11.7% and this indicates the significance of periodic screening for these errors.

Keywords

• amblyopia
• anisometropia
• refractive errors
• schoolchildren
• upper egypt