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[Usefulness of a school health program for detecting deficits in visual acuity]
1Centro de Salud de Puerto Real, Unidad Docente de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria de Cádiz.
Objective:
To evaluate the use of the school health programme to detect anomalies in visual sharpness.
Design:
A descriptive, crossover study.
Setting:
Puerto Real Health Centre (Cádiz).
Patients:
A random sample of school-children included in the school health programme for the first year of EGB (basic) and belonging to schools located in the health district.
Measurements And Main Results:
Visual sharpness was examined using Snellen's optotypes scale. Out of a sample of 300 children, 72 cases of deficiency were detected, 50 of them for the first time. Of 34 children with a previously unidentified deficiency who were surveyed by telephone and checked by the ophthalmologist, 22 had the suspected deficiency confirmed, treatment being prescribed for 19. This meant a minimum effectiveness of 38%, with the cases lost and not checked being considered not confirmed.
Conclusions:
Despite the limitations of this study, our effectiveness in detecting visual sharpness during the school health examination is quite acceptable. Therefore, we propose its continuity, incorporating some improvements in quality.