A prevalence study of ocular diseases carried out among 584 School Children in Kanpur slums revealed the overall prevalence of37.84%; 46.67% in females and34.37% in males. Younger age group children were more affected. The major diseases were refractive errors, trachoma, vit. A deficiency and conjunctivities

Chandra, S

Gupta, R K

Krishna, Gopal

Saxena, S C

Sharma, R P

Sharma, S N

Singh, V P

Srivastava, J P

Srivastava, V K

English

Indian Journal of Community Health

Indian Journal o/Community Healtll, 1995,Vol 8,NO.2 - 3: 28.30A PROFILE OF OCULAR DISEASES AMONGSCHOOL CHILDREN IN SLUM AREAS OF KANPURSharma R.P.*, Gupta R.K.**, Gopal Krishna**, Srivastava J.P.***, Saxena S.C.*, Srivas-tava V.K.*, Sharma S.N.***, Singh V.P.**** and S. Chandra*A prevalence study of ocular diseases carried out among 584 School Children in Kanpur slums revealed the overall prevalence of 37.84%; 46.67% infemales and 34.37% in males. Younger age group children were more affected. The major diseases were refractive errors, trachoma, vitoA deficiencyand conjunctivities..t • ,~ . ' , ' 0INTRODUCTIONVisual impairment is socio-economic problem,prevalent all over the world, it is more severe andcomplicated in developing countries due particularly toproverty, iIIiteracy, poor environmental sanitation andunsatisfactory personal' and community hygine7. InIndia, there are nine million blind persons and another45 miIIions are visually handicapped9. Next to Egypt,India has the highest incidence of blindness in world,;( particularly in the younger age group3.School children constitute approximately one forth of. "total population of India, which is susceptible tovarious type of morbidity, particularly eye diseases.Ocular diseases affect physical and mental growthmore profoundly than any other cause of morbidity.Majority of these disease are preventable or curable innature2. Keeping in view the high ocular morbidity and.its preventable nature, an effort was made to find outthe extent' of ocular diseases in !)cliool children ofKanpur slums.MATERIAL METHODSThe present study was carried out in school children ofKatari Slum areas of Kanpur from September toDecember 1993. A total of 584 students in age group5-17 years constituted the study population, 61.40%males and 38.60% females. DuPng the survey, theschool children were clinicaIIyexamined by a medicalteam consisting of one eye Surgeon also. The findingsTABLE-IAGE AND SEXWISE DISTRIBUTION OF OCULAR DISEASES IN SCHOOL CHILDREN.Age in MALE FEMALE TOTALl'ears Number No. with Prevalen Number No. with Frevalen Number No. with PrevalenExamined Eye ce Examined Eye ce. Examined Eye ceDisease Rate % Disease Rate % Disease Rate %5-7 70 40 57.14 26 16 51.54 96 56 58.338 -to 62 34 54.84 28 14 50.00 90 48 53.3311-l3 190 51 26.84 80 35 43.75 270 86 31.8514 - 17 97 19 19.59 31 12 38.71 128 31 24.22419 144 34.37 165 77 46.67 584 221 37.84.> •* Asstt. ProfessorAssociate ProfessorProfessorDepartment of Social & PreventiveMedicine, G.S. V.M. Medical College.KanpurEye SurgeonKanpur Eye Hospital. Kanpurof clinical examination were recorded on a pretestedproforma and were analysed.RESULTS DISCUSSIONSThe present study in Kanpur slums reveal that 37.84%of school children suffered from one or the other eyedisease, of which 35 children have more than onedisease. This finding is similar to the observation ofKumar et at (28.40%) and Urrnil et at (34.50%)15, butIndian JournalojCommunity Health, i995, Vol 8 ,No. 2 .3 : 28-30higher percentage was reported by Amir Ali et al(47.98%)1. The prevalence was high in females(46.67%) as compared to the males (34.37%), thesi.milar trend was observed by Ali et al (60.46%)females and 41.11 % males) I , but Urmil et ailS notedhigh prevalence in boys (38.57%) as compared to girls(28.68%), Kumar et at>observed equal prevalence inboth the sexes. The eye diseases were more prevalentin younger children as compared to higher age. groupchildren, similar to the findings of Ali et all (Table I).The majority of children with eye diseases belonged tosocio- economic group III, IV and V which is similar tothe observations made by Mehrotra et (Table II).The major eye deseases identified in the schoolchildren in order of frequency were - refractive arrors,trachoma, viI. A deficiency and conjunctivities (TableIII). Among various diseases refractive error hasshown maximum prevalence (12.50%), similar to thefigures noted by Shah et alII, while Ali et all andSrivastava et al13 noted higher prevalence - 21.95%and 22.0% respectively. Its prevalence was found to belowerin the study by Pataudi et al (8.59%)9 and Urmilet al (5.84% )15.The prevalence of trachoma in $e present study was.10.27%, which closely resembles the findings of11' .6Srivastava et al (12.68%) , but Kumar et ar andUrmil et ailS observed lower prevalence - 6.90% and4.52% respectively. Amir Ali et all observed higherTABLE-IIDISTRffiUTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH EYE DISEASES ACCORDING TO SOCIAL CLASS.Social Class Number of Number of Children PrevalenceChildren Examined with diseases Rate %I - - -II 10 2 20.00III 122 37 30.33IV 275 96 34.91V 177 86 48.58584 221 37.84TABLE-IIIPREVALENCE OF VARIOUS EYE DISEASE IS SCHOOL CHILDRENn=584Disease Conditions Male Female Total Prevalence Rate %I.Disease oflide2.05Blepharitis4 8 123 6 9 1.54Styl 4 1 5 0.85ChalazionII.Disease ofConjunctiva 26 12 38 5.51Conunctivitis 32 28 60 10.27TrachomaIII.CornealConditions 3 2 5 0.85Corneal OpacityIV.Disease of Muscle Squint 3 1 4 0.68V .Refracti ve Errors 48 25 73 12.5VI.Nutritional ViI. A Deficiency 28 20 48 8.22A Profile of Ocular Diseases Among School Childrenpercentage (25.35%). The prevalence of Vito Adeficiency was 8.22% which is similar to the findingsof Srivastava et al (9.15%)14, But Urrnil et al(13.81%)15 recorded high prevalence. In the presentstudy conjunctivitis has shown the prevalence of5.15%, similar to the findings reported by Urrnil et al(5.84%)15 & Kumar et al (4.9%)6, but higherprevalence was noted by Amir Ali et all and Khuranaet observed - 21.27% and 23.43% respectively.Prevalence of blepharities (2.05%) is similar to thereports made by Khurana et al (1.85%)4. Stye hasshown the prevalence of 1.54% similar to the figuresgiven by Khurana et al (1.2%)4, but Srivastava et al14 . 15(0.66%) and Urmil et al (0.33%) recorded lowprevalence. Pataudi et al9 noted higher prevalence(2.80%) for stye in their study. In the present study theprevalence of chalazion (0.85%) closely resembles thepercentage of squint was found to be 0.68% similar tothe report given by Srivastava et al (0.66%)14Prevalence of Corneal opacity (0.85%) is higher thatthe observation made by Kumar et al (0.21 %)6.1. Amir Ali et al "Pattern of Ocular Morbidity in SchoolChildren", Ind. Jour. of Comm. Health, 1995, 8: I,11-13.2. Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, Health Statisticsof India, Directorate General of Health Services,Ministry'of Health and Family Welfare, Govt..of India,New Delhi-1982.3. Chitnis K. "Blindness and prevention of Blindness inIndia", Geographical ophthalmology of Asia,Australia, Africa-1959; 13.4. Khurana A.K. et al "Ocular Morbidity Among SchoolChildren in Rohtak City". Ind. Jr. of Pub. Health,1984, XXVIII; 217-220.5. Kumar P. "Social Classification-Need for Constantupdating", Ind. Jr. of Comm. Medicine, April-June,1993, XVIII, 2: P-60c61. .6. Kumar D. et al "Ocular Morbidity Among SchoolChildren in Sarojini Nagar Development Block ofLucknow", 1992 XVIII, 3, 109-113.7. Meholy M.P. "Eye Diseases in U.P. - Report on theState of Health in U.P. with particular reference tocertain diseases", Directorate of Health U.P. 1961 P.209.8. Mehrotra A.N. et al "Prevalence of Eye DiseasesAmong School going children in Rural & UrbanCommunity of Jhansi, Bundelkhand", Ind. Jr. of Prevo& Soc. Medicine, 1978; 9 : 191-194.9. Pataudi R.K. et al "Health Status of School Children inPrimary School", Ind. Jr. of Pb. Health 1977; 2 :71-77.10. Sehgal' K. et al "Prevalence of Eye Diseases inSemi-urban Area", Ind. Jr. of Pub. Health 1984; 28(4): 189-193.II. Shah P.M. et al "Medical Examination of Rural SchoolChildren in Palghar TaBuk" Ind. Paed. 1968; 5 :250-255.12. Srivastava B.C. et al,' "Prevalence of Trachoma inSchool Children of Rural Community", Ind. Paed.1981; 18 : 10.13. Srivastava D.K. et al "Haith Examination of PrimarySchool Children of Gwalior", Ind. Paediatrics 1978 : 6: 489.495.14. Srivastava S.K. et al "A Study of OphthalmicConditions in School Children of Lucknow", 1981.15. Urmil A.C. et ai, "A Prevalence Study of Eye DiseasesAmong Children in a School in Pune". Ind. Jr. ofComm. Medicine, July-Sept. 1988, 13: 3; 134-138.

A profile of ocular diseases among school children in slum areas of kanpur

A profile of ocular diseases among school children in slum areas of kanpur

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Indian Journal of Community Health