Common Causes of Visual Impairment Among Sixth Grade Students in Boyer Ahmad city

Background: In line with the implementation of primary health care, Knowing the factors causing visual impairment is very helpful among children and students among population of each district. That's why in this study, we intend to study common causes of visual impairment in sixth grade elementary students in Boyer Ahmad city and we compared the results with similar studies. Materials and Methods: 1850 of 4427 sixth grade elementary students selected by Cluster sampling method in 2016-17 and they examined by linear snellen chart in the respective schools in 6 meters distance. Abnormal individuals were referred to specialized centers of Ophthalmology to determine the cause of decreased vision and they examined completely by an ophthalmologist. Results: In the initial screening, of 1850 people examined, 168 students (9.1%) known abnormal based on basic view of 0.8 and they were referred to specialized clinic for specialist examination. of these, 95 students reffered to ophthalmologist. In specialist examination, 70 students (8.3% of total examined patients) were visually impaired which the most important were Refractive Errors(3.84%), Amblyopia(2.3%) and Strabismus(0.19%). 38% of amblyopia was refractive errors. Of total number referred to an ophthalmologist, 26.3% of people were malingering which including 2.35% of general population.   Conclusion: Refractive errors was known as the most common cause of visual impairment and Amblyopia in the study group. As for to diagnosis simplicity and treatment of refractive errors we can dramatically reduced the prevalence of amblyopia and we also can reduce the incidence of malingering through cultural measures by the Broadcasting of Province