Prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors among schoolchildren In northeast of Iran

Purpose To determine the prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors (UCREs) among schoolchildren In northeast of Iran. Methods In a cross sectional study using random cluster sampling, 2020 schoolchildren 6 to 1 years of age were selected. The participants totaled 1551 (response rate=76.7%), 643 boys and 908 girls of elementary and junior high school students from the schools of northeast of Iran. Refractive errors were measured under cycloplegia. Myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent (SE) of ‐ 0.5 dioptre (D) or worse, hyperopia as a SE of +2.0 D. or more, and astigmatism as cylinder equal to or worse than ‐0.75 D. UCRE was defined as a minimum of 2 lines improvement of visual acuity in the better seeing eye. Results The prevalence of UCRE was 6.2% ( 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5‐7.4%). UCRE was more in boys than girls (P= 0.068). UCRE was not related to age and parent’s education. Myopia and astigmatism were the most common UCREs respectively. Present and corrected visual acuity was not different in 83.3% of the students. Visual acuity of 3 or more and 4 and more lines increased in 2.5% and 0.8% of the subjects after correcting refractive errors respectively. In 21.1%, 9.5% and 3.2% of the students with old correction, visual acuity of 2 or more, 3 more, 4 or more lines increased after new correction respectively . Conclusion The results of this study indicated that the prevalence of UCREs in schoolchildren of Iran northeast were similar to the most places of the world . Vision screening and correction refractive errors can prevented from visual impairment in schoolchildren.