Prevalence of inadequately corrected refractive error among spectacle-wearing school children in Northern India

The purpose of the paper is to assess the prevalence of inadequately corrected refractive error among spectacle-wearing school-going children in Northern India.

This descriptive, cross-sectional, and observational study was done among 5268 school children of the 5-15 years age group in Northern India over a period of 3 years. Both eyes of all participants, who were already using spectacles, were included in the study. The participants who did not give consent, age <5 years or >15 years, or had a previous history of ocular trauma or ocular surgery were excluded from the study. The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of inadequately corrected refractive error among spectacle-wearing school-going children. Secondary analyses assessed the type of refractive error and factors associated with inaccurate spectacle power use.

Among 5268 children, 1533 (29.10%) had a diagnosed refractive error and were prescribed spectacles. Out of 1533, 1180 (76.97%) students read ≤6/9 on Snellen's chart, and cycloplegic refraction was advised for all these students. The mean age of the study population was 9.4 ± 1.6 years; 45.8% were boys and 54.2% were girls with an M:F ratio of 0.84:1. The glasses of 59.3% of children were inaccurate by 1-2 D; inaccuracy was >2 D in 17.7%, and only 23.03% children were using correct spectacle correction. In multivariate models, younger age, higher myopic refractive error, and having glasses >1 year were associated with inaccurate spectacle power use.

This study highlights the magnitude of uncorrected refractive errors among children in India, which is often overlooked due to lack of awareness and limited accessibility to health services, which needs urgent attention.