Asma Altaf, Madiha Khalid, Ali Hassan Raza.
Prevalence of Refractive Errors in Madrassa Students of Lahore.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;16(2):610-2.

Background: Visual impairment due to refractive errors is one of the most common problems among school-age children and is the second leading cause of treatable blindness. The Right to Sight, a global initiative launched by a coalition of nongovernment organizations and the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to eliminate avoidable visual impairment and blindness at a global level. In order to achieve this goal it is important to know the prevalence of different refractive errors in a community. Objective: To get to know about the prevalence of refractive error in Madrassa students Lahore Material and Method: A cross sectional study was done with 200 students between ages of 9-19 years in Madrassas of Lahore. The students were screened for refractive errors and the types of the errors were noted. After screening for refractive errors-the glasses were prescribed to the students. Results: 65% students had myopia which was the most frequent refractive error in students, followed by hyperopia 23% and astigmatism 12%. Conclusion: This study showed that myopia is an important problem in madrassa population. Females and males are almost equally affected. Spectacle correction of refractive errors is the cheapest and easiest solution of this problem.

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