The Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among First Grade of Primary School in Amara, South of Iraq

Abstract farsi Background and Objectives: One of the main health problems of concern is refractive error in children, which has a real burden on community and individuals especially among schoolchildren. The study aim is to evaluate the refractive errors’ prevalence in primary school children. Methods: The study was a cross sectional with the element of analysis which was carried out in a primary school of the Amara city. A total of 768 children were selected randomly from 76 primary schools (urban rural, male and female schools) by cluster sampling according to the geographic area of health districts and their primary health care centers. Each child was examined for visual acuity (both uncorrected and best corrected) dry and cyclo- refraction. Results: In this study, the response rate was (95.7%) from which 66.1% were male and 33.9% were female. The prevalence of refractive error was 47% (360) distributed as myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism which was (19.6%, 20.1% and 7% respectively) while amblyopia was 4.8%. 39.9% of students showed abnormal visual acuity. After cyclo-refraction, the prevalence of refractive error was changed for all types, most of myopic children were female (52.1%) while most children with hyperoia (53.4%) and astigmatism (54.7%) were male children with statistical significant association (P= 0.001). Conclusion: we concluded that refractive error and visual acuity loss prevalence was high among children of primary school in the Amara city in south of Iraq. It seems that an extensive ocular and visual screening protocol must be considered in this province