The Refractive State of Malnourished Children

Introduction Ocular refraction results from contributions made by various components of the eye which are normally concordant to some extent.1This concordance is much greater in uniovular twins than in binovular twins or unrelated pairs of individuals,2indicating the important role of genetic factors. Little is known about the possible influence of adverse environmental factors acting in early life on ocular refraction. It is generally believed that the Arab is myopic.3It was thought to be of interest to study ocular refraction of young Lebanese Arab children suffering from the widespread disorder of undernutrition or marasmus. Materials and Methods One hundred and ten severely marasmic infants ranging in age between 21 days and 2 years were selected for this study. All subjects were carefully weighed. In order to characterize the marasmic state more fully, and in particular to determine the vitamin A status of these infants, venous