Prevalence of correctable visual impairment in primary school children in Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia.

PURPOSE The worldwide prevalence of refractive errors (RE), which is a common cause of treatable visual impairment among children, varies widely. We assessed the prevalence of correctable visual impairment (uncorrected RE) in primary school children in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 21 primary schools. A total of 5176 children (mean age 9.5±1.8 years), 2573 boys (49.7%) and 2603 girls (50.3%), underwent a comprehensive eye examination. The examinations consisted of visual acuity, autorefraction, cover test, ocular motility, pupillary evaluation, anterior segment examination, cycloplegic auto-refraction and dilated fundus examination with direct ophthalmoscopy. The children were divided into groups based on their age and gender. RESULTS The overall prevalence of RE in the better eye was 18.6% (n=963), and the prevalence of uncorrected RE 16.3% (n=846), with only 2.3% (n=127) of children wearing spectacles during examination. The prevalence of uncorrected myopia (5.8%) and myopic astigmatism (5.4%) was higher compared to that of hyperopic astigmatism (2.7%), mixed astigmatism (1.7%) and hyperopia (0.7%). The anisometropia prevalence was 3.6%. Risks for astigmatism, myopia and anisometropia were positively associated with age. In addition, myopia and anisometropia risks were also associated with female gender, while risk of astigmatism was correlated with male gender. Few children with vision reducing RE wore spectacles; an additional 16.3% of children could benefit from spectacle prescription. CONCLUSION The prevalence of uncorrected RE in children is relatively high and represents an important public health problem in school-aged children in Qassim province. Performance of routine periodical vision screening throughout childhood may reverse this situation.