Refractive Errors in School-age Children in Qazvin, Iran

Results: The study was performed on 5641 (47.72%) male and 6180 (52.28%) female students. The prevalence of myopia (from 32.96% at the age of 7 to 79.02% at the age of 18 years) significantly increased (P < 0.001), and hyperopia significantly decreased (from 47.07% in 7-year- old individuals to 8.32% in 18-year- old subjects) with age (P < 0.001). There were significant differences in refractive errors between males and females. Hyperopia and myopia was more common among female in comparison to males (P < 0.001). Astigmatism greater than 0.75 D in one or both eyes was found in 990 children (8.37%). Astigmatism increased from 6.04% in 7-year-old students to 9.86% in 15-year-oldstudents e and then no more difference was found in age group ranged from 15 to 18 years. Conclusions: Based on our study, the prevalence of myopia is more than other types of refractive error, which is similar to that reported in previous studies on other school-age populations in some Asian countries. The high prevalence of refractive error among school-age children indicated that untreated refractive error is one of the most common public health problems.