The Investigation On Trachoma, Amblyopia, Strabismus And Stereoacuity In Children Of Rural Primary School In Tengzhou, Shandong Province

[Background]Trachoma is the most common infectious cause of blindness worldwide.Current estimates indicate that there are 8 million people who are blind or have severe visual impairment from trachoma,7.6 million unoperated trichiasis cases and 84 million with active trachoma.These figures were a significant reduction from the previous estimates(1995) of 6 million blind,10 million trichiasis cases and 146 million with active disease because of the implement of SAFE strategy and the development of the social economy.Trachoma is endemic in 56 countries,especially in Africa and the Middle East,but it is also present in localised areas within Asia, Latin America and the Western Pacific.Australia is the only developed country in the world where blinding trachoma persists.The disease is known to be highly correlated with poverty,overcrowding,lack of adequate water resources,limited use of water for personal hygiene,inadequate waste disposal and other conditions that encourage the proliferation of flies.There were many researches indicated that the child were the main transmission of Chlamydia trachomatis in the community,and active disease is more commonly found in children.Therefore,to some extent,the prevalence of active trachoma in children could reflect the epidemic of trachoma in areas.In order to investigate the prevalence of trachoma in rural areas in Tengzhou,Shandong province, we did the sampling survey in rural school-children in Tengzhou district in 2008.[Objective]To investigate the prevalence of trachoma and its risk factors in rural primary school children in Tengzhou District of Shandong Province.[Methods]In this cross-sectional,population-based study,children aged 5 to 14 years old in primary school were randomly selected by a cluster sampling in which school shift was the sampling unit.Out of 2742 students,2676 were eligible.The examination rate was 97.6%.The name list which contained the name,gender and birthday of the student was provided by teachers.We set up the work station in a certain school classroom.All selected students were assessed for trachoma using the simplified grading scheme proposed by the World Health Organization(WHO).[Results](1).Out of 2676 available students,active trachoma(TF and/or TI) was found in 593(22.16%,95%CI:20.59～28.41%) of the examined individuals.(2).The prevalence of active trachoma in boys was 19.74%(317/1606,95%CI: 17.79%～21.96%).In 1070 girls,276 were active trachoma,the prevalence of which was 25.79%(95%CI:23.17%～28.41%).There was statistically significant difference between boys and girls by the prevalence of active trachoma(x~2=13.653,P=0.000). Girls were more vulnerable to active trachoma than boys.(3).The prevalence of trachoma in students who were less than ten-year old was 22.26%(453/2035,95%CI:20.67%～23.85%).(4).There were not statistically significant difference between different age groups by the prevalence of trachoma(x~2=9.389,P=0.052).(5).The prevalence of TF,TI and TS were 5.68%,19.21%,0.56%,respectively.There were not students with TT and CO.The prevalence of TI is significant higher in girls than boys.[Conclusion]The prevalence of trachoma is still high in children in Tengzhou rural areas and some interventions were needed.