Pattern of Inheritance and Career Choices of Secondary School Students Screened for Color Vision Disorders

To ascertain the pattern of inheritance and career choices of secondary school students screened for color vision disorder.

Methodology: The study is a community- based descriptive cross-sectional study involving public secondary school students from randomly selected schools. The participants had a comprehensive ophthalmological eye examination after which a structured questionnaire was administered to ascertain their future career choices. All data generated were entered into a personal computer and then analyzed with the help of a statistician using commercially available Statistical Package for Social Sciences Package version 21 (SPSS-21). Mean and standard deviations were determined for age.

Results: One thousand secondary school students showing a 100% response rate were interviewed. 73.9% of those with CVD reported a positive family history of CVD (p-value 0.0220). Majority of the color-blind students indicated preference for the medical and engineering occupations.

Conclusion: Most of the color-blind students indicated a preference for careers where color vision will be essential. Measures should be put in place to set up school eye screening programs to educate and ensure that students are screened for CVD at least once during secondary education to ensure proper vocational counseling and choice.

Keywords: Career choices; Color vision disorders; Secondary school