Prevalence and risk factors for myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria
African Vision and Eye Health
Field | Value | |
Title | Prevalence and risk factors for myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria | |
Creator | Atowa, Uchenna C. Munsamy, Alvin J. Wajuihian, Samuel O. | |
Description | Aim: To study the prevalence of myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in public and private (primary and secondary) schools. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used for selecting participants aged between 8 and 15 years from 12 schools in Aba, Nigeria. Data were analysed for 1197 children who underwent a comprehensive eye examination. The children were divided according to the following criteria: age groups (group 1 [8–11 years] or group 2 [12–15 years]), gender (male or female), level of education (primary or secondary) and type of school (public or private). Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction (SER) ≤ -0.50 D in the poorer eye.Results: The prevalence of myopia was estimated to be 2.7%. Of the 96 children with refractive error, 78.1% were uncorrected. In using logistic regression analysis, risk of developing myopia was associated with older age groups (odds ratio [OR]: 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.16–9.11; p 0.010) and higher level of education (OR: 1.73; 95% CI, 1.05–2.86; p 0.030). There was no significant difference in myopia prevalence between male and female children (p = 0.89).Conclusion: Although the prevalence of myopia and overall prevalence of refractive error in school children in Aba were low, the high prevalence of uncorrected refractive error is a significant public health problem. An effective and sustainable children’s vision screening programme is needed to prevent visual impairment and blindness. | |
Publisher | AOSIS | |
Date | 2017-02-28 | |
Identifier | 10.4102/aveh.v76i1.369 | |
Source | African Vision and Eye Health; Vol 76, No 1 (2017); 5 pages 2410-1516 2413-3183 | |
Language | eng | |
Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/369/683
https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/369/682
https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/369/684
https://avehjournal.org/index.php/aveh/article/view/369/678
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT