Prevalence of refractive errors and visual impairment due to refractive errors among school children in Cairo, Egypt

Aim The aim of this research was to study the distribution and patterns of refractive errors (REs) among school children and the incidence of amblyopia in each type. Patients and methods This is an observational nonrandomized population-based cross-sectional study that included children aged 6-18 years attending the Outpatient Clinic of Al-Zahraa University Hospital, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. All children were subjected to comprehensive eye examination including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), expressed in LogMAR, cycloplegic REs that was documented using a NIDEK auto-refractometer-keratometer, cover-uncover testing, and fundus examination. The prevalence of REs, amblyopia, and anisometropia was estimated. Results The study included 960 children (1920 eyes), with a mean age of 13.08±3.41 years. Emmetropia was found in 834 (43.4%) eyes, while myopia was reported in 587 (30.6%) eyes, hypermetropia in 114 (5.9%) eyes, and myopic astigmatism in 385 (20%) eyes. Anisometropia was reported in 65 (6.77%) children, while amblyopia was found in 49 (5.1%) eyes. The amblyopia prevalence was statistically significantly higher among the hypermetropic group (3.9%) than the myopic astigmatism group (1.2%), (P = 0.031). Conclusion The overall prevalence of REs among the examined children was 56.6% mainly myopia followed by myopic astigmatism and lastly hypermetropia. This draws the attention to the increased incidence of myopia which needs further social studies.