A Study of relationship between pubertal age and visual acuity in school children in Ghaziabad

Abhishek Sinha; Rinku Garg; Navpreet Mann

Volume : IX, Issue : VIII, August - 2019

A Study of relationship between pubertal age and visual acuity in school children in Ghaziabad

Abhishek Sinha, Rinku Garg, Navpreet Mann

Abstract :

Introduction: It is a known fact that school children suffer from a variety of eye and visual problems. The most common among them is decreased visual acuity, the most common cause of which is Myopia. Most of these cases develop in the age group of 10 to 14 years. We checked for association between age at puberty and decrease in visual acuity in school children in Ghaziabad. Material and Methods: 3293 children of government and private schools in Ghaziabad were studied. Visual acuity was measured by Snellen’s chart and age was confirmed as on school records. Statistical analysis: Data was entered in to MS Excel and analyzed by STATA 14. Result: There was an increase in prevalence of refractive errors in 10 to 14 years age group as compared to before puberty. However, there was no significant decline of visual acuity in this age group although there was a downward trend in the same. Discussion: The present study shows the at age of puberty i.e. 10 to 14 years in schoolchildren there is increase in prevalence of refractive errors most probably due to effect of growth hormone on the eye development. Conclusion: Screening of schoolchildren of age 10 to 14 years is recommended by an optometrist and spectacles should be prescribed to improve their quality of life.