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Effective refractive error coverage and spectacle coverage among school children in Telangana, South India

Eye (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Uncorrected refractive error (URE) is one of the leading causes of childhood vision impairment. Increasing effective refractive error coverage (e-REC) is one of the main indicators of WHO’s 2030 global eye health targets. The aim of this study is to estimate the e-REC and spectacle coverage among school children in Telangana, South India.

Methods

School children aged 4–15 years in the study locations underwent vision screening using 6/12 tumbling E optotype by trained community eye health workers in the schools. Those failing the initial vision screening and/or found to be having eye conditions were referred to a nearby referral centre appropriately, where they underwent detailed eye examination.

Results

A total of 774,184 children were screened in schools of which 51.49% were boys. The mean age was 9.40 ± 3.27 years. The prevalence of URE was 1.44% (95%CI:1.41–1.46) of which myopia was 1.38% (95%CI: 1.35–1.41). In multivariate analysis, the risk of myopia was higher among older children (Adj.OR: 17.04; 95%CI: 14.64–19.85), those residing in urban areas (Adj.OR:3.05, 95%CI:2.60–3.57), those with disabilities (Adj.OR:2.61, 95%CI:2.00–3.39) and among girls (Adj.OR:1.30, 95%CI:1.25–1.35) (P < 0.001). The overall e-REC was 56.97% and the spectacle coverage was 62.83%.

Conclusion

The need for interventions to improve e-REC to achieve 2030 global eye health target is eminent among children in this region. Improving refractive services through school eye health programs could aid in accelerating this process to achieve the target. Myopia being the most common type of RE, the risk factors included increasing age, urban location, and presence of disability.

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Data availability

The dataset can be made available on request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the children who were enroled in the study. We are also grateful to all the paediatric ophthalmologists, Vision technicians the Community eye health workers and, administrators who were involved in this study. We also thank Ms. Asha Latha Mettla for all the administrative and logistical support throughout this project.

Funding

This study was funded by Lavelle Fund for the Blind, USA, Sun Pharma Corporate Social Responsibility grant and Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Allen Foster Community Eye Health Research Centre, Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye care, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Winston D Prakash, Srinivas Marmamula, Jill Keeffe & Rohit C. Khanna

  2. Brien Holden Institute of Optometry and Vision Science, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Winston D Prakash & Srinivas Marmamula

  3. J V Ramanamma Children Eye Care Centre, Child Sight Institute, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India

    Winston D Prakash

  4. Brien Holden Eye Research Centre, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Srinivas Marmamula & Rohit C. Khanna

  5. School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Rohit C. Khanna

  6. University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA

    Rohit C. Khanna

Authors
  1. Winston D Prakash
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Contributions

First author: Winston D Prakash. Data cleaning and analysis, interpretation, and manuscript writing. Second Author: Srinivas Marmamula: Study design, data collection and manuscript review. Third author: Jill Keeffe: Study design and manuscript review. Fourth & corresponding author: Rohit Khanna: Study concept, design, data interpretation and manuscript review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rohit C. Khanna.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation prior to the screening. Ethics reference number: LEC 01-15-011.

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Prakash, W.D., Marmamula, S., Keeffe, J. et al. Effective refractive error coverage and spectacle coverage among school children in Telangana, South India. Eye (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-02986-6

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