ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To compare the proportions of school children with myopia and impaired visual acuity in Greece and Bulgaria. METHODS: A sample of 898 children, aged 10-15 years, was selected from two primary and two secondary schools in a Greek city (Heraklion), and one primary and secondary school in a Bulgarian city (Stara Zagora). Five hundred and eighty eight children were Greek (65.5%, mean age 12.5 +/- 0.08 years) and 310 Bulgarian (34.5%, age 12.4 +/- 0.07 years). VA was assessed with the habitual refractive correction. Refractive error was measured in the absence of cycloplegia using an auto-refractor. RESULTS: The percentage of children, tested with their habitual refractive correction, with decimal VA <0.5 in at least one eye was 11.7% (95% CI 9.1-14.3%) for Greek and 5.2% (95% CI 2.7-7.6%) for Bulgarian pupils. The percentage of myopic children also differed between the two countries with the proportion with myopic refractive error Subject(s)
Astigmatism/physiopathology
, Myopia/physiopathology
, Vision Disorders/physiopathology
, Visual Acuity/physiology
, Adolescent
, Age Factors
, Astigmatism/epidemiology
, Bulgaria/epidemiology
, Child
, Female
, Greece/epidemiology
, Humans
, Male
, Myopia/epidemiology
, Statistics as Topic
, Vision Disorders/epidemiology