Frequency of asthenopia and its association with refractive errors

Background: Asthenopia is a common complaint amongst patients who attend eye care settings. Owing to associated discomfort or distress, asthenopia affects efficient reading and performance of near tasks. Purpose: To study the prevalence of asthenopia and any association with refractive errors in a clinical setting. Methods: In this cross-sectional practice-based study, the clinic records of 1109 school-aged children (mean age and standard deviation 14.39 ± 3.39 years) were analysed. The sample comprised 427 (38.5%) male and 682 (61.5%) female patients between the ages of 6 and 19 years. Refractive errors were classified into various types, and the association between these refractive types and symptoms in asthenopia were explored. Results: The most common symptom of asthenopia was headaches (40.8%), of which temporal headaches were the most frequent type (15.7%). Various symptoms were significantly associated with mainly astigmatism. Conclusion: Headaches were the most frequent complaint amongst patients who attended the author’s optometric practice. Astigmatism was the most frequent cause of asthenopia. Female patients were more likely than male patients to complain of asthenopia, whilst high school students were more likely than primary school children to complain of asthenopia. Further studies to relate asthenopia to binocular anomalies will be relevant in enhancing our understanding of the relationship between asthenopia and vision anomalies

A review of non-strabismic accommodative-vergence anomalies in school-age children. Part 1: Vergence anomalies

Comfortable reading and the performance of near point activities involve efficient accommodative and vergence systems. However, accommodative and vergence anomalies are associated with various symptoms that impair efficient near point tasks. Although several studies investigated accommodative-vergence anomalies in school-age populations, their findings were diverse owing to differences in diagnostic techniques and the criteria used to define the variables. The aim of this paper is to derive prevalence and distribution estimates of vergence anomalies in school-age children and address variations in the study methods and findings. Despite variations in the study methods and findings, accommodativevergence anomalies were common in school-age populations. Variations and limitations of previous studies are discussed and recommendations for improving future studies are suggested

A review of non-strabismic accommodative and vergence anomalies in school-age children. Part 2: Accommodative anomalies

Comfortable reading and the performance of related near point activities involve efficient accommodative and vergence systems. However, accommodative and convergence anomalies are associated with various symptoms of asthenopia that impair efficient near point tasks. In Part 1 of this two-part article, studies on vergence anomalies were reviewed. In the current paper (Part 2), anomalies of accommodation are reviewed. The aims of the latter paper were to derive the prevalence and distribution estimates of anomalies of accommodation in school-age children and address variations in the study methods and findings. Despite variations in the study methods and findings, anomalies of accommodation are prevalent among school-age populations. Variations and limitations of previous studies are discussed and recommendations for improving future studies are suggested

Prevalence and risk factors for myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria

Aim: To study the prevalence of myopia among school children in Aba, Nigeria. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in public and private (primary and secondary) schools. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used for selecting participants aged between 8 and 15 years from 12 schools in Aba, Nigeria. Data were analysed for 1197 children who underwent a comprehensive eye examination. The children were divided according to the following criteria: age groups (group 1 [8–11 years] or group 2 [12–15 years]), gender (male or female), level of education (primary or secondary) and type of school (public or private). Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction (SER) ≤ -0.50 D in the poorer eye. Results: The prevalence of myopia was estimated to be 2.7%. Of the 96 children with refractive error, 78.1% were uncorrected. In using logistic regression analysis, risk of developing myopia was associated with older age groups (odds ratio [OR]: 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.16–9.11; p < 0.010) and higher level of education (OR: 1.73; 95% CI, 1.05–2.86; p < 0.030). There was no significant difference in myopia prevalence between male and female children (p = 0.89). Conclusion: Although the prevalence of myopia and overall prevalence of refractive error in school children in Aba were low, the high prevalence of uncorrected refractive error is a significant public health problem. An effective and sustainable children’s vision screening programme is needed to prevent visual impairment and blindness