Prevalence of Amblyopia among Primary School Children in Enugu, Nigeria
Osuji Samuel Chibueze*; Ejidike G. Ebele; Oduntan Olalekan Alabi; Onyekwere Francis; Nwokedi Apollos Rapuluchukwu
Department of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences
Madonna University Nigeria, Elele, Rivers State
Email: drsamsuji@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Amblyopia causes impairment of visual acuity, depth perception, and contrast sensitivity and this leads to loss of binocular single vision. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of amblyopia among primary school pupils in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 500 primary school pupils who were examined. Data was obtained using ocular examinations which included visual acuity and pin hole visual acuity testing, cover test. Subjective refraction and fundoscopy were also performed. Amblyopia was defined as best corrected visual acuity<6/9 in one eye or both eyes without ocular pathology in either eye. Data obtained was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 and was tested using the Chi-square test with p-value set at 0.05 (p<0.05). A total of 500 pupils participated in the study, out of which 248 (49.6%) were males and 252 (50.4%) females. The mean age of the participants was 8.95 +2.16 years and the age range was from 5-15 years with 307 (61.4%) pupils within the ages of 5 to 9 years and 193 (38.6%) pupils within the ages of 10 to 15 years. Amblyopia was detected in 21 (4.2%) of the screened pupils. Amblyopic subjects were significantly older than non-amblyopic children (P=0.002). The female pupils were more amblyopic than their male counterparts, although the gender variation was not statistically significant. Isometropic amblyopia (n=8, 38.1%) was the most common type of amblyopia (p=0.001). Bilateral amblyopia was observed in 61.9% of the amblyopic pupils. The prevalence of amblyopia in this study was high and therefore adequate public enlightenment about the causes, consequences and prevention of amblyopia should be advocated by eye care service providers and the government.
Keywords: Prevalence; Amblyopia; Children; Ocular Examination.
