Pattern of ocular morbidities: A cross-sectional study on school-going children in Shillong city

India is plagued by ocular morbidities in school-children. However, there exists paucity of studies, school health check-ups, and health education in the north-eastern region. This study aimed at estimating the prevalence and pattern of various ocular morbidities in school-going children of Shillong.

It was a school-based cross-sectional study done in Shillong, Meghalaya among 540 school-going children from class VI to X. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.

The most common ocular morbidity was refractive error (57.4%) followed by vitamin A deficiency (38.1%), color blindness (3.1%), nevus (3%), manifest squint (2.2%), ptosis (2.2%), conjunctivitis (0.9%), stye (0.4%), etc., There was statistically significant association (P = 0.0192) among the variations of presence of ocular morbidities in the various age groups, among students attending Government or Private schools (P = 0.0430), and socio-economic status (P = 0.012). The prevalence of ocular morbidities was found to have highly significant association with the educational status of both the father (P = 0.0001) and mother (P = 0.001). In addition, the occupational status of the father (P = 0.0472) and the mother (P = 0.0251) were significantly associated with the prevalence too.

The prevalence of ocular morbidities was found to be much higher than in other places of the country, which may be because of environmental factors and lifestyle combined with a lack of awareness and timely diagnosis and an absence of robust school health program. A regular screening along with specific health education campaigns can go a long way in decreasing the same.