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ARTICLES |
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Year : 1977 | Volume
: 25
| Issue : 1 | Page : 11-12 |
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Eye diseases in primary school children in Jodhpur
NC Desai, BS Chouhan, MS Qureshi, SR Sharma
S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur, India
Correspondence Address: N C Desai Department of Ophthalmology, S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
PMID: 612584 
How to cite this article: Desai N C, Chouhan B S, Qureshi M S, Sharma S R. Eye diseases in primary school children in Jodhpur. Indian J Ophthalmol 1977;25:11-2 |
How to cite this URL: Desai N C, Chouhan B S, Qureshi M S, Sharma S R. Eye diseases in primary school children in Jodhpur. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 1977 [cited 2023 Feb 5];25:11-2. Available from: https://www.ijo.in/text.asp?1977/25/1/11/34593 |
There is a great need to take care of children as they are suffering from a high incidence of eye diseaseses as reported by surveys carried out by teams of qualified doctors from time to time. We have taken up a study "Early detection of visual defects in school going children" under a project of the National Society for the prevention of blindness, Jodhpur Branch financed by H.H. Smt. Badankawar Medical Trust, Jodhpur. This survey was carried out in the urban areas of Jodhpur.
Material and Methods | |  |
4900 Primary school children were examined among which 3288 were male and 1612 female in a period of eight months from 65 different primay schools of Jodhpur town, All the children were in the age group of 5-12 years. This survey was conducted to find the percentage of eye diseases and dental defects and to advise them early treatment.
To detect the eye diseases and defects the following tests were adopted
- Distant Vision with the help of Snellen's chart, E chart, dot chart and for near vision by dot chart and Jaeger's test type were carried out.
- Colour vision with the help of Ishihara's book, and phorias were tested with the help of Maddox wing test.
- Those children who had defective vision due to squint or refractive errors were advised to attend the Eye OPD of M. G. Hospital, S.N. Medical College. Jodhpur for further investigation and proper treatment.
Observations and Discussion | |  |
4550 Children (92.86%) were found to be suffering from eye disease. Surinder Singh and his co-workers [6] found 64.25% of primary school going children suffering from eye diseases in Patiala city. Pal [4] found 42.20% incidence in New Delhi, city.
It was observed that 68.77% children were suffering from trachoma, 11.03% conjuntivitis 2.67% xerosis. 2.67% squint, 2.04% Bitot's spots 1.43% refractive errors 1.43% phthiriasis palpebrarum and 2.86% miscellaneous eye diseases which include corneal opacity, subconjunctival cyst, dacryocystitis, stye, and chalazion [Table - 1] and 7.14% children were free from any eye disease.
In our study a very high incidence of trachoma was found (68.77%) which includes 72.05 male and 61.46 female children. Similar high incidence of trachoma was found by other workers Pal [2] 40.40%; Surinder Singh et al 63.38% and Agarwal 80% & 97% in various age groups.
Conjunctivitis of all types, was present in 11.03% of children including 9.73°/ of male and 13.58% of female whereas Surinder Singh and his co-workers' could detect conjunctivitis in 23.74% children.
In our study 1.52% male and 6.97% female children were suffering from of squint but Surinder Singh and his workers [6] found squint in 1.41% and Agarwal et al [2] detected 3.38% of squint in their study made at Delhi.
In our study the incidence of refractive error was 1.43% and Agarwal [1] found 17.83% children suffering from refractive error which is very high but Surinder Singh and his coworkers [6] detected refractive error in 6.32%. Knoyama [5] in 23.5°c, whereas Pal [4] had detected 12.70% in 1961-62 and 8.9% in 1962-63.
It is essential to educate the parents about regular eye check up at the school periodically to eliminate various diseases and defects.
Summary | |  |
A survey to detect visual defects in primary school going children in Jodhpur city was carried out. 92.86% of children were suffering from various eye diseases.
References | |  |
1. | Agarwal, L.P., 1966 Orient. Arch. Opthal., 4,1,  |
2. | Agarwal L.P., Malik, S.R.K. and Madan Mohan, 1963 Orient Arch. Opthal.  |
3. | Ida Mann, 1963, Orient. Arch. Opthal, 5, 18.  |
4. | Pal, N.K. 1966 Indian J. Pub. Health. 3.  |
5. | Konyama K. 1972, Orient. Arch. Ophthal., 10,229. |
6. | Singh Surinder Harcharan Singh, Joshi and Vasdeo Singh 1974 In dian J. Ophth. |
[Table - 1], [Table - 2]
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