Prevalence of refractive errors in school-aged and preadolescent children in Colombia

To describe the distribution of refractive errors by age and sex among schoolchildren in Soacha, Colombia.

This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted in five urban public schools in the municipality of Soacha. A total of 1161 school-aged and pre-adolescent children, aged 5-12y were examined during the school year 2021-2022. Examinations included visual acuity and static refraction. Spherical equivalent (SE) was analysed as follows: myopia SE≤-0.50 D and uncorrected visual acuity of 20/25 or worse; high myopia SE≤-6.00 D; hyperopia SE≥+1.00 D (≥7y) or SE≥+2.00 D (5-6y); significant hyperopia SE≥+3.00 D. Astigmatism was defined as a cylinder in at least one eye ≥1.00 D (≥7y) or ≥1.75 D (5-6y). If at least one eye was ametropic, children were classified according to the refractive error found.

Of the 1139 schoolchildren included, 50.6% were male, 58.8% were aged between 5 and 9y, and 12.1% were already using optical correction. The most common refractive error was astigmatism (31.1%), followed by myopia (20.8%) and hyperopia (13.1%). There was no significant relationship between refractive error and sex. There was a significant increase in astigmatism (P<0.001) and myopia (P<0.0001) with age.

Astigmatism is the most common refractive error in children in an urban area of Colombia. Emmetropia decreased and myopia increased with age.