Myopia and visual acuity impairment: a comparative study of Greek and Bulgarian school children.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt
; 29(3): 312-20, 2009 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19422563
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 errorCONCLUSIONS:
The increased proportion of myopic children in Heraklion, compared to Stara Zagora, may arise from a number of environmental and socio-economic factors, which need to be further investigated in order to understand the differences observed among European populations.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Astigmatism
/
Vision Disorders
/
Visual Acuity
/
Myopia
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt
Year:
2009
Document type:
Article