Pattern of Refractive Errors Amongst Children Attending a New Teaching Hospital in Kaduna, Nigeria: A 2‑Year Review

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and pattern of presentation of refractive errors (REs) amongst children 5–16 years who attended the eye clinic of a tertiary hospital over a 2‑year period.

SETTING: The outpatient unit of the Department of Ophthalmology, Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A descriptive retrospective study of children aged 5–16 years, who presented to our facility between January 2017 and December 2018 with various ocular complaints. Those with presenting visual acuity <6/9 were included in the study. Demographic data were retrieved from patient records. The visual acuity, ocular complaints, RE, general ocular examination and prior
history of spectacles use were also extracted from the records. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS version 18.

RESULTS: A total number of 14,004 patients of all ages where seen in outpatients Department of Ophthalmology Clinic. Five thousand six hundred and nine were children aged 5–16 years. Seven per cent of the patients (392) had REs, while 93% (5217) had no RE. The mean age was 10.7 years and with a male‑to‑female ratio of 1.2:1. Two hundred and thirty patients were in the 11–16 years (58.6%),
while 162 (41.4%) belonged to the 5–10 years age group. Myopia accounted for 212 (54%), while mixed astigmatism only 9 (2%). Hyperopia 100 (27%), simple myopic astigmatism 40 (10%), compound myopic astigmatism 18 (4%) and compound hyperopic astigmatism 13 (3%) made up the other REs. Asthenopic symptoms accounted for 78% of all presenting ocular symptoms and were
common amongst those with myopia and astigmatism, while 22% had no symptoms. Most of the REs were of mild‑to‑moderate grade based on their spherical equivalent.

CONCLUSION: RE was identified as a problem amongst children 5–16 years with myopia more common. Most cases of RE in this study were myopia and associated with ocular complaints which were mostly asthenopic symptoms. The majority of the REs were mild to moderate.