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Prevalence of myopia and hyperopia in a population of Polish schoolchildren
Author(s) -
Czepita Damian,
Żejmo Maria,
Mojsa Artur
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
ophthalmic and physiological optics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.147
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1475-1313
pISSN - 0275-5408
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2006.00419.x
Subject(s) - cycloplegia , retinoscopy , tropicamide , rank correlation , refractive error , medicine , ophthalmology , population , optometry , correlation , age groups , demography , eye disease , psychology , mathematics , pupil , statistics , geometry , environmental health , neuroscience , sociology
Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of myopia and hyperopia in a population of Polish schoolchildren. Methods: A total of 4422 students were examined (2107 boys and 2315 girls, aged 6–18 years, mean age 11.1, S.D. 3.5). The examination included retinoscopy under cycloplegia induced with 1% tropicamide. Myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent (SE) of at least −0.5 dioptres (D), and hyperopia as a SE of at least +1.0 D. Data analysis was performed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients and chi‐squared test; p ‐values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: It was observed that 13.3% of Polish students in the age group ranging from 6 to 18 years were myopic while 13.1% of students were hyperopic. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the prevalence of myopia and age ( p < 0.001) and a negative correlation between prevalence of hyperopia and age ( p < 0.001). It was observed that the prevalence of myopia increases substantially between 7 and 8 years of age ( p < 0.01). Moreover, it was determined that with age the average refractive error among schoolchildren becomes more myopic ( p < 0.001). Conclusions: The occurrence, degree and progress of myopia and hyperopia in Poland is similar to that in other European countries with a predominantly Caucasian population.