The Study Of Spectacle Accuracy And Visual Impairment Among Rural Children In Chaoshan Region, China

PURPOSE Inadequately corrected refractive error is the leading cause of visual disability among children in China; inaccurate spectacles are a potential cause. For the proper to realize the prevalence and visual impact of spectacle inaccuracy among rural, secondary-school children in rural China ,and find out the connecting social economy factors. We measured the children's refraction and there own glasses's dioptor in this region.METHODS A random sample of children from years 1 and 2 in all junior and senior high schools in Fuyang Township, Guangdong Province, underwent ocular examination. The sample size is more than 600. All children completed questioner form and the field work embrace vision assessment (uncorrected visual acuity, presenting visual acuity and best corrected visual acuity). All children who reported wearing glasses received cycloplegic refraction and measurement of current spectacles with lensometer. All data analysised with spss (ver.14.0;SPSS,Inc.,Chicago,IL).RESULTS Among 3226 examined children, 733 (22.7%) reported owning spectacles. Refractive error and spectacle power were assessed for 588 (80.2%) children. They had a mean age of 15.0±1.6 years, 70.2% were girls, 83.3% had more than–1.5 D of myopia, and 17.9% had presenting vision≤612 in the better seeing eye. The glasses of 48.8% of children were inaccurate by>1 D; inaccuracy was>2 D in 17.7%. Children with inaccurate glasses (≥1 D) had presenting vision in the better eye significantly (P < 0.001) worse than that of children with accurate glasses, and 30.3% had presenting acuity<6/12. In multivariate models, younger age (P = 0.004), more myopic refractive error (P < 0.001), and having glasses more than 1 year old (P = 0.04) were associated with inaccurate spectacles. DISCUSSION Inaccurate spectacles are common and are associated with significant visual impairment among children in rural China. Reducing outdated glasses could lessen the visual burden, although refractive services may have to be offered on an annual basis for optimal benefit.