Prevalence of ocular morbidities among children’s attending ophthalmology OPD in tertiary care hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract
Introduction: Ocular morbidities among pediatric age group play a major role in their education in addition to occurrence of blindness in our community. Even in India, preventable and treatable causes like cataract, refractive error still contribute to more than 80% preventable blindness.
Material and Methods: The current research paper is a cross-sectional study, conducted in Saveetha medical college and hospital. The data pooled for the study was conducted from January 2019 to March 2019 for a period of 3 months. All children below the age of 15 years attending ophthalmology outpatient department were included in the study. Ethical clearance and informed verbal consent was obtained and detailed ophthalmic examination was done.
Results: 271 patients were included in the study, 122were males and 149 were females. All the patients were divided into three broad age groups, 0-5 years, 6-10 years and 11-15 years. In the current study overall refractive error (54.6%) was the most widespread ocular morbidity. Allergic conjunctivitis (19.1%), foreign body (8.1%), Chalazion (4%), viral conjunctivitis (2.6%) and squint (2.2%) are other common morbidities.
Conclusion: The present research paper suggests refractive error, allergic conjunctivitis, foreign body in eye and chalazion are the important ocular morbidities seen in children. Nearly all of them are treatable or preventable. The occurrence of refractive error is high among children and is the main cause of amblyopia.
Downloads
References
Pratap VB, Lal HB. Pattern of paediatric ocular problems in north India. Indian J Ophthalmol. 1989;37(4):171-172.
Sahoo JR, Jena D, Karmee N, Tripathy RM, Sahu PP. Prevalence of ocular morbidities among paediatric patients attending Ophthalmology OPD in MKCG Medical College Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha, India. Int J Advan Med. 2018;5 (2): 409-413. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20181079.
Dandona R, Dandona L. Childhood blindness in India: a population-based perspective. Brit J Ophthalmol. 2003; 87 (3):263-265. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.87.3.263.
Pisudde PM, Taywade ML, Sushma K, Mehendale AM, Shukla AK. An epidemiological study of common ocular morbidities among elderly population in the Wardha, district, Maharashtra, India. Epidemiology: Open Access. 2015;5(2). S2:002. doi: 10.4172/2161-1165.S2-002.
Venkataramana, Amarnath RLC. Prevalence and pattern of ocular morbidity and factors influencing ocular morbidity in a rural population in South India: a community based cross sectional study. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;4(8):2939-2945. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20173349.
Danish Assistance to the National Program for Control of Blindness. New Delhi. India: Vision screening in school children. Training module 1.
Biswas J, Saha I, Das D, Bandyopadhyay S, Ray B, Biswas G. Ocular morbidity among children at a tertiary eye care hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal. Indian J Pub Health. 2012;56(4):293-296. doi: https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-557X.106418.
Das A, Dutta H, Bhaduri G, De AS, Sarkar K, Bannerjee M. A study on refractive errors among school children in Kolkata. J Ind Med Assoc. 2007;105(4): 169-172.
Desai S, Desai R, Desai NC, Lohiya S, Bhargava G, Kumar K. School eye health appraisal. Indian J Ophthalmol. 1989;37(4):173-175.
Nirmalan PK, Vijayalakshmi P, Sheeladevi S, Kothari MB, Sundaresan K, Rahmathullah L. The Kariapatti pediatric eye evaluation project: baseline ophthalmic data of children aged 15 years or younger in Southern India. Am J Ophthalmol. 2003;136(4):703-709. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9394(03)00421-5
Chaturvedi S, Aggarwal OP. Pattern and distribution of ocular morbidity in primary school children of rural Delhi. Asia Pac J Public Health. 1999;11(1):30-33. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F101053959901100107.
Kumar R, Dabas P, Mehra M, Ingle G, Saha R, Kamlesh R. Ocular morbidity amongst primary school children in Delhi. Health Popul Perspect Iss. 2007;30(3):222-229.
Onakpoya OH, Adeoye AO. Childhood eye diseases in southwestern Nigeria: a tertiary hospital study. Clinics. 2009;64(10):947-951. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1807-59322009001000003
Khurana AK, Sikka KL, Parmar IP, Aggarwal SK. Ocular morbidity among school children in Rohtak City. Indian J Public Health. 1984;28(4):217-220.
Hall A, Shillo B. Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis. Community Eye Health. 2005;18(53):76-78.
Singh V, Malik KP, Malik VK, Jain K. Prevalence of ocular morbidity in school going children in West Uttar Pradesh. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2017;65(6):500-508. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2Fijo.IJO_676_15.
Dandona L, Dandona R, Srinivas M, Giridhar P, Vilas K, Prasad MN, et al. Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2001;42(5):908-916.
Copyright (c) 2019 Author (s). Published by Siddharth Health Research and Social Welfare Society
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
OAI - Open Archives Initiative
Therapoid
