Abstract Purpose: This study aimed to analyse the pattern of refractive errors and related visual impairment and amblyopia in children attending a tertiary care eye centre in Eastern India. Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2022 to December 2023. Children aged 5–15 years with refractive errors were included in the study. Each subject underwent visual acuity measurement, ocular motility test, cycloplegic refraction, and anterior and posterior segment examination. Results: This study included 756 eyes of 378 patients. The mean age was 10.53 ± 2.89 years, with 172 (45.5%) aged between 9 and 12 years and 212 (56.1%) patients were male. Blurred vision (75.7%) was the most common presenting symptom, and only 91 (24.1%) patients had a history of using glasses. Astigmatism was the most prevalent refractive error, 526 (69%) of 756 eyes, followed by myopia in 188 (24.9%) eyes and hypermetropia in 29 (3.8%) eyes. Moderate visual impairment was present in 259 (34.2%) eyes, and 24 of them had amblyopia. Astigmatism (17 eyes) was the most common cause of amblyopia in this cohort, On multivariate analysis, males and patients with a previous history of spectacle use were 2.21 and 2.16 times more likely, respectively, to have refractive errors. Males were 40% less likely to have myopia in both eyes. Conclusion: Astigmatism was the most common type of refractive error in children attending the tertiary care centre. Most of these children had a moderate degree of visual impairment, and uncorrected astigmatism was the leading cause of amblyopia in this cohort.
Hanisha et al. (Thu,) studied this question.