Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study
Introduction: Avoidable blindness is mainly due to uncorrected refractive errors (URE). School Eye Screening (SES) can be used as an initiative to address this issue. Aim: To determine prevalence of URE and Number Needed to Screen (NNS) to find one child with low vision or blindness from URE am...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/10476/25388_CE[Ra]_F(Sh)_PF!_(SY_MJ_PY)_PFA(SY_SS).pdf |
| _version_ | 1828849767177781248 |
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| author | Deepika Dorothy John Padma Paul Evon Selina Kujur Sarada David Smitha Jasper Jayaprakash Muliyil |
| author_facet | Deepika Dorothy John Padma Paul Evon Selina Kujur Sarada David Smitha Jasper Jayaprakash Muliyil |
| author_sort | Deepika Dorothy John |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Avoidable blindness is mainly due to uncorrected
refractive errors (URE). School Eye Screening (SES) can be used
as an initiative to address this issue.
Aim: To determine prevalence of URE and Number Needed to
Screen (NNS) to find one child with low vision or blindness from
URE among rural school children.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was
performed in 22 government schools with sixth to ninth grades
in Kaniyambadi block of Vellore District of Tamil Nadu, India.
There were 4739 children on the rolls. Among children present,
all those identified to have a visual deficit in either eye, using
a single line 20/40 Snellen’s optotype E chart at 6 m, were
referred to the hospital for confirmatory evaluation. Blindness
(uncorrected) was defined as inability to see 20/200 in the better
eye. In two of these schools, visual deficits were validated
through a second school based examination by a clinician.
Results: Of the 4739 children on rolls, 601 were absent; all
4138 (87.3%) who were present underwent screening; 2.3% (98)
{95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.8 to 2.8} failed the screening test
in at least one eye and were referred for examination. Only 28
(28.6%) of 98 children who were referred came for examination
to the hospital. In the 2 of the 22 schools where the visual deficit
was validated, there were no false positives. The prevalence of
refractive error in these two schools was 2.2% (95% CI 1.7 –
2.7). NNS to detect one child with low vision or blindness from
URE was 147.
Conclusion: Magnitude of refractive error, low NNS, low
response to referral necessitates complete care at school and
hence a relook at the current SES program. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:58:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba29e9d392e941d0a89290080b5ffac2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2249-782X 0973-709X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:58:19Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba29e9d392e941d0a89290080b5ffac22022-12-22T00:08:54ZengJCDR Research and Publications Private LimitedJournal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research2249-782X0973-709X2017-08-01118NC16NC1910.7860/JCDR/2017/25388.10476Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional StudyDeepika Dorothy John0Padma Paul1Evon Selina Kujur2Sarada David3Smitha Jasper4Jayaprakash Muliyil5Postgraduate Registrar, Department of Ophthalmology, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Tutor Incharge, Department of Ophthalmology, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Professor, Department of Community Health, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.Introduction: Avoidable blindness is mainly due to uncorrected refractive errors (URE). School Eye Screening (SES) can be used as an initiative to address this issue. Aim: To determine prevalence of URE and Number Needed to Screen (NNS) to find one child with low vision or blindness from URE among rural school children. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 22 government schools with sixth to ninth grades in Kaniyambadi block of Vellore District of Tamil Nadu, India. There were 4739 children on the rolls. Among children present, all those identified to have a visual deficit in either eye, using a single line 20/40 Snellen’s optotype E chart at 6 m, were referred to the hospital for confirmatory evaluation. Blindness (uncorrected) was defined as inability to see 20/200 in the better eye. In two of these schools, visual deficits were validated through a second school based examination by a clinician. Results: Of the 4739 children on rolls, 601 were absent; all 4138 (87.3%) who were present underwent screening; 2.3% (98) {95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.8 to 2.8} failed the screening test in at least one eye and were referred for examination. Only 28 (28.6%) of 98 children who were referred came for examination to the hospital. In the 2 of the 22 schools where the visual deficit was validated, there were no false positives. The prevalence of refractive error in these two schools was 2.2% (95% CI 1.7 – 2.7). NNS to detect one child with low vision or blindness from URE was 147. Conclusion: Magnitude of refractive error, low NNS, low response to referral necessitates complete care at school and hence a relook at the current SES program.https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/10476/25388_CE[Ra]_F(Sh)_PF!_(SY_MJ_PY)_PFA(SY_SS).pdfavoidable blindnesschildhood blindnesslow visionmyopiaschool eye screening |
| spellingShingle | Deepika Dorothy John Padma Paul Evon Selina Kujur Sarada David Smitha Jasper Jayaprakash Muliyil Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research avoidable blindness childhood blindness low vision myopia school eye screening |
| title | Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full | Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study |
| title_fullStr | Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study |
| title_short | Prevalence of Refractive Errors and Number Needed to Screen among Rural High School Children in Southern India: A Cross-sectional Study |
| title_sort | prevalence of refractive errors and number needed to screen among rural high school children in southern india a cross sectional study |
| topic | avoidable blindness childhood blindness low vision myopia school eye screening |
| url | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/10476/25388_CE[Ra]_F(Sh)_PF!_(SY_MJ_PY)_PFA(SY_SS).pdf |
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