Refractive Errors Among Children at the Teaching Hospital of Bouaké (Central Côte d’Ivoire), from 2012 to 2016

Authors

  • Yves Ouattara Department of Ophthalmology, Teaching Hospital of Bouaké 01 BP 1174 Bouaké 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Thierry Yves Constant Sowagnon Department of Ophthalmology, Teaching Hospital of Bouaké 01 BP 1174 Bouaké 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Zana Diabaté Department of Ophthalmology, Teaching Hospital of Bouaké 01 BP 1174 Bouaké 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Liliane Ella Godé Department of Ophthalmology, Teaching Hospital of Bouaké 01 BP 1174 Bouaké 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Ghislain Kouadio Department of Ophthalmology, Teaching Hospital of Bouaké 01 BP 1174 Bouaké 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)

Keywords:

Refractive errors, Children-Optical, Correction

Abstract

Purpose: Contribute to a better understanding of refractive errors (or ametropias) among children in Côte d’Ivoire, at the epidemiological and clinical levels.

Material and methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive study of medical records of children aged from 0 to 15 years received in ophthalmology consultation from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2016. Whatever the reason for consultation, the clinical examination highlighted an error in the refraction.  Out of a total of 3,568 cases, 435 were selected.

Results: The average age of patients was 12 years ± 0.6 (samples of 5- and 15-years extreme values) and children aged from 12 to 15 years represented 66.21% (n = 288).  There was a female predominance with 65.29% (n = 284) and 98.39% of them were students (n = 428).  The personal history of wearing corrective lenses was found in 4.83% (n = 21) while the family history of wearing corrective lenses was found in 3.91% of cases (n = 17). The most frequent reason for consultation was reduced visual acuity, but this represented only 17.45% of the reasons for consultation.  It was followed by photophobia (15.10%), and headaches (13, 50%).  All patients had benefited from an objective refraction study by automatic refractometry before optical correction, with documented evidence of cycloplegia with 0.5% Cyclopentolate in 53.8% of cases (n = 234).

The refractive errors had a frequency of 12.2% and astigmatism, all forms combined (simple, compound, mixed), was present in 49.42% of patients (n = 215), followed by hyperopia with 33.1% (n = 144) and myopia with 17.47% (n = 76).  Refractive errors were classified as low in 96.55% of cases (n = 420) and strabismus was among 4 children, or 0.92% of the population under study. All these ametropias had benefited from an optical correction by glasses.

Conclusion: Reducing the prevalence of uncorrected ametropia among children requires systematic screening, especially in schools.  However, the low representation of children of preschool or out-of-school age contributes to an underestimation of the real prevalence of refractive errors in our conditions.

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Published

2022-10-31

How to Cite

Ouattara, Y., Thierry Yves Constant Sowagnon, Zana Diabaté, Liliane Ella Godé, & Ghislain Kouadio. (2022). Refractive Errors Among Children at the Teaching Hospital of Bouaké (Central Côte d’Ivoire), from 2012 to 2016. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences, 90(1), 238–245. Retrieved from https://asrjetsjournal.org/index.php/American_Scientific_Journal/article/view/7116

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