Pattern and Prevalence of Ocular Diseases in

Secondary School Students in an Oil Producing

Community in Rivers State, Nigeria

Henry Ogbuehi; Elizabeth A Awoyesuku; Chinyere N Pedro Egbe

Research Article

Pattern and Prevalence of Ocular Diseases in Secondary School Students in an Oil Producing Community in Rivers State, Nigeria

Henry Ogbuehi₁, Elizabeth A Awoyesuku₂* and Chinyere N Pedro Egbe₂

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Federal Medical Centrel, Nigeria

²Department of Ophthalmology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Corresponding Author

Received Date: October 13, 2019; Published Date: October 28, 2019

Abstract

Aim: This study was carried out to determine the proportion of secondary school students with ocular disorders in two rural communities in Rivers State.

Study design: A cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Gokana Local Government area, Rivers State. Methodology: A cross sectional study on vision screening among secondary school students was carried out in Kegbara-Dere (K-Dere) and Begbara-Dere (B-Dere) Communities in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State between. A multistage sampling technique was used to recruit students aged 11-22 years (mean age 15.7 ± 2-08) in the 2 community secondary schools. A total of 263 students consisting of 146 (55.5%) males and 117(44.5%) females were screened. Statistical package for social science (SPSS 20) was used to analyze the data.

Results: Seventy one of the 263 students had ocular disorders giving a prevalence of 27.0%. Thirty-four (47.9%) of the students with ocular disorders were in the 14 - 16 years age range. Of the total students with ocular disorders, 45 (63.4%) were males and 26 (36.6%) were females. Males did not have statistically significant higher prevalence of ocular disorders (df=1, P=0.53). There were eight different ocular disorders observed in these students, refractive error (23; 8.7%) being the commonest followed by suspicious cupped disc (18; 6.4%). The prevalence of defective color vision and amblyopia were 4.6% and 1.4% respectively with male preponderance in defective color vision which was statistically significant (df=1, p=0.047). No student had a visual acuity < 6/18 or < 3/60 in the better eye. Only 32.4% (n=23) of those with ocular disorder actually complained of ocular symptoms.

Conclusion: The prevalence of ocular disorders in this study was 27% with uncorrected refractive errors ranking highest. School Eye Screening is necessary to reverse this trend.

Keywords: Ocular disorders; Rivers state; Rural communities; Secondary school students

Article Details

Citation

Elizabeth A Awoyesuku, Henry Ogbuehi, Chinyere N Pedro Egbe. Pattern and Prevalence of Ocular Diseases in Secondary School Students in an Oil Producing Community in Rivers State, Nigeria. W J Opthalmol & Vision Res. 2(4): 2019. WJOVR.MS.ID.000545.