Types Of Errors Of Refraction Among School-Going Children Attending Ophthalmic Clinic In Alexandria, Egypt

To spot the prevalence of the types of refractive errors among school-aged children in Alexandria, Egypt.

 We conducted a cross-sectional study in a private clinic in the period between from May 2021 to September 2023. 

After ethical approval was obtained in addition to informed consent from the guardians of the children, demographic data was obtained during history taking and refractive measures was examined and refractive errors was assessed through the investigation by the Ophthalmologist. Statistical analysis was undergone to attain descriptive statistics on the data, further statistical tests like Chi-square test, Student’s t-test and ANOVA test was used to inspect any relation between the tested variables.

220 Patients was included, their mean age was 9.3 years (Range=5-12), where 111 (50.5%) of them were males and they were age-grouped into 3 groups (5-7/8-10/11-12),  the majority of the patients were in the 8-10 cohort (n=103,46.8%). Number of patients with myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and Plano- without any refractive error- was 66(30%), 42(19%), 88(40%) and 24(11%) respectively. Anisometropia was visible 46(20.9%) of the cases. The only significant relation was between age and the refractive errors incidence (p<0.001).

There was a considerable share of the children who had refractive errors that could affect their life and the later it’s left untreated, the worse and the spreadier it becomes. The percentage though isn’t that tidy to neglect, it’s momentous and worthy to observe.