Types of refractive errors in northern Pakistan: a hospital-based survey
Abstract
Background: The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that about 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide, and in 153 million of them the impairment is due to uncorrected refractive errors. Hence, uncorrected refractive error is one of the leading causes of blindness around the globe. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and patterns of different types of refractive errors among the people attending the eye clinic in Northern Pakistan.
Material and methods: A hospital-based retrospective audit was done on patients who presented to the Ophthalmology Outpatients Department of Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad between 1st June 2017 and 31st July 2017. The data of 662 patients were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics v. 22.0. Results: Refractive errors were found in 487 (73.5%) of the total participants. The crude prevalence of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism was found to be 33.5%, 21.9%, and 18.1%, respectively. The refractive error status was found to be independent of gender (p = 0.075), but it varied among different age groups (p = 0.000).
Conclusion: Myopia seems to be the most common refractive error in northern Pakistan, followed by hyperopia. The results of our study can be useful for the planning of eye care services in our country so that we can achieve the goal of VISION 2020 with proper care and planning.
Keywords: refractive errormyopiahyperopiaastigmatism
References
- Resnikoff S, Pascolini D, Mariotti SP, et al. Global magnitude of visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive errors in 2004. Bull World Health Organ. 2008; 86(1): 63–70.
- Vitale S, Ellwein L, Cotch MF, et al. Prevalence of refractive error in the United States, 1999-2004. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008; 126(8): 1111–1119.
- Angle J, Wissmann D. The epidemiology of myopia. Am J Epidemiol. 1980; 111(2): 220–228.
- Bourne RRA, Dineen BP, Ali SM, et al. Prevalence of refractive error in Bangladeshi adults: results of the National Blindness and Low Vision Survey of Bangladesh. Ophthalmology. 2004; 111(6): 1150–1160.
- Dandona R, Dandona L, Naduvilath TJ, et al. Refractive errors in an urban population in Southern India: the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1999; 40(12): 2810–2818.
- Tarczy-Hornoch K, Ying-Lai M, Varma R, et al. Los Angeles Latino Eye Study Group. Myopic refractive error in adult Latinos: the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006; 47(5): 1845–1852.
- Wong TY, Foster PJ, Hee J, et al. Prevalence and risk factors for refractive errors in adult Chinese in Singapore. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2000; 41(9): 2486–2494.
- Koroye-Egbe A, Ovenseri-Ogbomo G, Adio A. Refractive Error Status In Bayelsa State, Nigeria. J. Nigerian Optometric Asso. 2010; 16: 11–15.
- Qayyum S. Refractive state of children in less than five years of age. J Surg Pakistan. 2006; 11: 73–75.
- Awan HR, Ihsan T. Prevalence of visual impairment and eye diseases in Afghan refugees in Pakistan. East Mediter Health J. 1998; 4: 560–566.
- Afghani T, Vine HA, Bhatti A, et al. Al-Shifa-Al-Noor (ASAN) refractive error study of one million school children. Pakistan J Ophthalmol. 2003; 19: 101–7.
- Shaikh SP, Aziz TM. Pattern of eye diseases in children of 5-15 years at Bazzertaline Area (South Karachi) Pakistan. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2005; 15(5): 291–294.
- Alam H, Siddiqui MI, Jafri SI, et al. Prevalence of refractive error in school children of Karachi. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008; 58(6): 322–325.
- Shah SP, Jadoon MZ, Dineen B, et al. Refractive errors in the adult pakistani population: the national blindness and visual impairment survey. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2008; 15(3): 183–190.
- Dineen B, Bourne RRA, Jadoon Z, et al. Pakistan National Eye Survey Study Group. Causes of blindness and visual impairment in Pakistan. The Pakistan national blindness and visual impairment survey. Br J Ophthalmol. 2007; 91(8): 1005–1010.
- Wensor M, McCarty CA, Taylor HR. Prevalence and risk factors of myopia in Victoria, Australia. Arch Ophthalmol. 1999; 117(5): 658–663.
- Raju P, Ramesh SVe, Arvind H, et al. Prevalence of refractive errors in a rural South Indian population. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2004; 45(12): 4268–4272.
- Saw SM. A synopsis of the prevalence rates and environmental risk factors for myopia. Clin Exp Optom. 2003; 86(5): 289–294.
- Curtin BJ. The myopias. Basic Science and Clinical Management. Harper and Row, Philadelphia 1985: 39–59.