Pattern and distribution of ocular morbidity in primary school children of Rural Delhi

作 者：Chaturvedi S.Aggarwal O.P.

作者机构：Department of PSMUniversity College of Medical Sciences GTB Hospital Delhi India
D-2GTB Hospital Campus Dilshad Garden Delhi-110 095 India

出 版 物：《Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health》

年 卷 期：1999年第11卷第1期

页 面：30-33

中图分类：R1[医药、卫生-预防医学、卫生学]

学科分类：12[管理学]1204[管理学-公共管理]120402[管理学-社会医学与卫生事业管理(可授管理学、医学学位)]1004[医学-公共卫生与预防医学(可授医学、理学学位)]1001[医学-基础医学(可授医学、理学学位)]10[医学]

主　　题：DelhiOcular morbiditySchool children

摘 要：A total of 679 primary school children drawn from developed southern parts and underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi were examined for ocular morbidity. Their age range was 5-15 years and both sexes had almost equal representation. The prevalence of eye diseases was relatively high. Over 40 percent of all the children studied had one or more ocular problems. Trachoma (18%) was the most common ocular morbidity followed by vitamin A deficiency (10.6%), visual acuity 6/9 (7.4%) and apparent / latent squint (7.4%). In most of these eye disorders, the majority of the children came from the underdeveloped eastern parts of Delhi. Ocular morbidity seems to be unevenly distributed in rural Delhi with a significantly worse picture in the underdeveloped eastern parts, across the river Yamuna . Though blinding trachoma may cease to be a major problem in India, the country continues to have endemic pockets of its non-blinding form. One puzzling observation was that children with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) did not show any specific vulnerability to ocular diseases. In fact, those with normal weight-height index were having a higher share of eye diseases. Though this issue needs to be explored further in the light of biological plausibility, it appears that children who do not have PEM are also exposed to ocular diseases at least with comparable risk.