Ametropia in children with headache

To measure the frequency of uncorrected ametropia in children with 2 to 8 weeks of persistent headache referred to ophthalmic outpatient department for evaluation.

This cross sectional study was conducted at CMH Gujranwala from March 2018 to November 2018.A total of 262 children, aged from 5 to 16 years, with 2 to 8 weeks history of persistent headache underwent detailed ophthalmic assessment for refractive errors, and other ophthalmic evaluation. Children with ametropia, confirmed with cycloplegic refraction and post-mydriatic testing were prescribed with glasses. Patients without any ophthalmic findings were referred back to pediatrics department for further evaluation.

Mean age of study population was 8.97 ± 3.16 years. Mean duration of headache was 5.03 ± 1.81 weeks. Ametropia was found in 56 (21.4%) children, while 206 (78.6%) had no refractive error. Out of children with ametropia, 20 (35.7%) had myopia, 24 (42.8%) had astigmatism and 12 (21.5%) had hypermetropia. There was no difference in ametropic children and children without ametropia with respect to gender (p=0.73), age (p=0.54) and duration of headache (p=0.71).

A significant proportion of children with ametropia have initial symptoms of headache. Any child with un-explained headache must undergo ophthalmic evaluation to diagnose refractive error, if any.