Prevalence of refractive errors in a public school children of Lahore

Aim: to find out the prevalence of refractive errors in a public school children of lahore. study design: this is a cross sectional descriptive study. place and duration: this study was conducted in government high school baghbanpura lahore during the month of october 2012. methods: all the students present in school during the study period were included in the study. the students were clinically examined for refractive errors by a team of ophthalmologists and optometrists. objective and subjective refraction of students was performed. the relevant data was recorded on a pre structured questionnaire which was later on analyzed by statistical tools. results: five hundred and thirty three students of class 6th to 10th present in school during the study period were included in the study. the age of students ranges from 9 to 18 years. refractive errors were found in 107(20.07%) children. myopia accounted for 61.70%,hypermetropia 14% and astigmatism 24.30% of the total refractive errors.