Prevalence of Refractive Error and Spectacle Compliance in Children of Tokha Municipality.

Abstract

Background Refractive error is considered as an important component of the priority disease "childhood blindness" within the Vision 2020' initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. The large majority of vision impairment in school aged children is due to uncorrected refractive error. Hence, refractive errors are considered as a public health challenge. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of refractive error and spectacle compliance among children in Tokha municipality, Kathmandu. Objective The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of refractive error and spectacle compliance among children from Tokha municipality, Kathmandu. Method A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted by enrolling 1366 children from Tokha municipality from 1st to 3rd week of April 2022 after obtaining the Institutional Review Board (Reference number:60/2079/80). Assent was taken from all children and informed consent was signed by the legal guardians of the children. All the samples underwent a comprehensive ocular history taking, visual acuity and refraction and ocular health assessments. The inclusion criteria was school going children within age group 5-16 years. Result Out of a total of 1366 samples, 10.91% (149) of the school children were identified to have refractive error. The primary type of refractive error observed was compound myopic astigmatism, which accounted for 52.3% (78) of the cases. A spectacle compliance rate of 72.15% was found. Conclusion Refractive error prevalence in this study is consistent with findings from other part of Nepal. The most common type of refractive error was compound myopic astigmatism. The frequency of refractive errors was notably higher among individuals who frequently use electronic devices, attend private schools, and reside in densely populated areas. It is recommended to organize regular community eye camps and conduct vision screenings to identify and promptly address refractive errors in children.