The prevalence of visual impairment and demographic characteristics school age children of low socio-economic status in gaziantep

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of refractive errors and other eye diseases, incidence of amblyopia, their causes in school children and the correlation between gender, age, parental education, and socio-economic factors, to treat this disorders and in a way, to perform protective medicine for future aspects.Institution: Primary schools with low socio-economic level of the city center of Gaziantep.Materials and methods: This study (cross-sectional) covers the 11 primary schools with low socio-economic level of the city center of Gaziantep, between the dates January 2011- May 2013. Following a routine eye examination those who were below the 10/10 visual acuity as diagnosed with Snellen acuity chart and found to have a refraction error with autorefractometer had been examined with a cycloplegic.Results: The number of students that had been involved in the screening was a total of 19898, out of which 9973 (50,13%) were girls and 9925 (49,87%) were boys. 5,16% of the students their fathers? and 36,7% their mothers? were illiterate or did not go to school. 16,97% families were consanguineous marriages. The average age ws 10,3±3,86 years. Those who had only refractive error rated 23,16% among the overall students screened. Refractive error was detected 22,86% of the men, 23,47% of the women. When all of the children were evaluated, 3,71% (740 students) has myopia and 5,61 % (1117 students) hyperopia. Astigmatism was present in 13,8% children. Strabismus was the second most common eye diseases detected in the screened population. The rate of amblyopia was found as 3,03%. The most common reason of ambliyopia was anisometropia (1,17%, 234 students) and the second most common reason was strabismus (0,89%, 178 students). Color blindness prevalence was 1,6%. Mean central corneal thickness was measured 539,1 µm. Mean axial length of all students were 22,28 mm±0,49. The mean intraocular pressure was 15,35 mmHg.conclusion: Visual impairment is a common disorder in school-age children. Periodic preschool visual screening programs can prevent refractive errors and common ocular diseases.key words: Visual screening, Refractive errors, scholl age children,Strabismus, Amblyopia, intraocular pressure.