International Journal of Nursing & Care
- ISSN: 2573-8879
Sachin and Raj Kumar
Purpose: To analyse the prevalence of refractive errors in rural areas. To assess the adequacy of the optometrist/ ophthalmic surveillance for the betterment of life in society
Methods: This is an Observational, retrospective study conducted on 1000 patients of rural area Kharar, Mohali in the Eye Clinical Camps during 2021 to 2023 at Gharuan (students, labours, job persons, housewives, etc.). Vision check, and subjective refraction did by the optometrist with the help of auto refractometer and appropriate lenses in the trial frame using the Log-MAR chart. Data confidentiality was maintained. The data was analyzed by using software MS EXCEL and
software IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0.
Result: Total 1000 random patients (male=553, female=447) of age from 10-50 years were screened for refractive errors and only 808 patients (male=445, female=363) were included for the study. Myopia and Hyperopia were considered when subjective refraction > -0.50D spherical equivalent & > +0.50D spherical equivalent respectively in one or both eyes of patients. Astigmatism was also considered when subjective refraction ≥ 0.5D cylinder in one or both eyes. Emmetropia
was considered when subjective refraction ≤ 0.5D spherical and cylinder in both eyes. Astigmatism prevalence was found to be 20.6% (n=167). Myopia and Hyperopia were found to be 18.8% (n=152) and 8.04% (n=65) respectively. The emmetropic patients were 52.47% (n=424). Distribution of male and female patients (n,%) according to their refractive error, Astigmatism was more prevalent in male patients(n=89, 53.3%) than female patients (n=78, 46.7%), Myopia was more prevalent in female patients(n=78, 51.3%) than male patients (n=74, 48.68%) , Hyperopic was also more prevalent in female patients(n= 33, 50.76%) than male patients (n=32, 49.23%), and emmetropic (no refractive error ) male patients (n=250, 59%) and female patients (n=174, 41%). In male patients (n=445) the prevalence of astigmatism (n=89, 20%) than other refractive errors (myopia =74, 16.62% and hyperopic =32, 7.2%) and in female patients (n=363) the amount of
myopia (78, 21.5%) and astigmatism (78, 21.5%) was similar and hyperopic was (33, 9.1%). The total number of patients from age 10-18 years was 145(male=72, female=73) from 808 total patients. The myopia (n=54, 37.24%) was more prevalent than astigmatism (n=25, 17.24%). The emmetropic patients with no refractive error were (n=66, 45.5%). While we compare the data of male and female patients (age 10-18 years), the Myopia was more prevalent in male patients (n=29, 53.7%) than the female patients (n=25, 46.3%) but in astigmatism condition, astigmatism was more prevalent in female patients (n=15, 60%) than the male patients (n=10, 40%). Emmetropic patients were (male=33, female=33). the Prevalence of amblyopic patients (n=8, 1%) with a sample size of (male= 445, female= 363). The prevalence of amblyopia is relatively low at 1% in this population, the refractive error increased with increasing age. Glasses were prescribed to the patients with refractive error and also advised the patients to must visit hospitals if they have any other issues.
Conclusion: Refractive error is a serious health concern and its prevalence is rising with time and the negligence of the eye health care will invite a big problem in future. Spectacles and contact lenses are very good options to treat the major refractive error issue. If we organize some activities, awareness camps to influence people regarding eye health care, these can lead to a healthy society.