Original Articles
Assessment of amblyopia among school going children aged 6-15 years in a city of West Bengal, India: A cross-sectional study
Authors:
Mita Saha Dutta Chowdhury,
College of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kamarhati. Kolkata, IN
About Mita
Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology
Prithwijit Banerjee,
College of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kamarhati. Kolkata, IN
About Prithwijit
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Souradeep Ray,
Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Purba Bardhaman, IN
About Souradeep
Associate Professor, Department of ENT.
Kalyan Kumar Paul
ESI-PGIMSR & ESIC Medical College, Joka, Kolkata, IN
About Kalyan
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine
Abstract
Introduction: Amblyopia is the leading cause of preventable monocular vision loss in children. Refractive error is a common cause of amblyopia, other causes being anisometropia, ocular media opacities, strabismus or a combination of factors. Since amblyopia is avoidable and mostly treatable, early screening and timely treatment are very important.
Objectives: To assess the prevalence and types of amblyopia among 6-15 years old school going children in urban West Bengal, India.
Method: A cross sectional study was conducted for one year among 3882 rural school children aged 6-15 years. A full ophthalmic examination, including refraction, fundoscopy and slit lamp examination was done in children having vision <6/12 without any organic lesion.
Results: Amblyopia was found in 112 (2.9%) children. Common causes of amblyopia observed were anisometropia (33.9%), strabismus (29.5%), meridional amblyopia (14.3%) and combined (13.4%). Amblyopia was found to be higher in males (3.2% vs 2.5%) and in the 11-15-year age group (3.1% vs 2.6%), though it was not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Prevalence of amblyopia was 2.9% in our study population and anisometropia was the commonest (33.9%) type.
Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2023; 52(1): 8-12
How to Cite:
Chowdhury, M.S.D., Banerjee, P., Ray, S. and Paul, K.K., 2023. Assessment of amblyopia among school going children aged 6-15 years in a city of West Bengal, India: A cross-sectional study. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 52(1), pp.8–12. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/sljch.v52i1.10466
Published on
05 Mar 2023.
Peer Reviewed
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