Intelligence Quotient in Children with Hypermetropia

Refractive errors are a common worldwide problem. Several hypotheses explain a relationship between hypermetropia and intelligence. This study is done to study the Intelligence Quotient in school children with hypermetropia and compare that to children with normal vision. This study was done in Department of Physiology in subjects attending the Ophthalmology Out Patient Department, Department of Ophthalmology, Stanley Medical College, Chennai. 30 subjects of age group 8 to 13 years were chosen and IQ test was performed using BinetKamath test, and compared with 30 control group chosen from Master Health Check up Programme. With this data obtained, statistical analysis was done using independent Student ttest and chi square test using SPSS version 15. Of the 30 controls, 8 children were in grade I, 9 in grade II+, 8 in grade II, and 5 in grade III+. From 30 subjects, 6 children were in grade I, 5 in grade II+, 2 in grade II, 8 in III+, and 9 in grade IV with high significant P value. From this study we conclude that hypermetropia has a direct influence on an individual’s intelligent quotient and show that blurred hypermetropia may be a risk factor for lower IQ.