PREVALENCE OF MYOPIA AMONG CHINESE SCHOOLCHILDREN IN KUALA LUMPUR USING NON CYCLOPLEGIC MEASUREMENTS

Uma Mageswari Batumalai, Sharanjeet Kaur, Haliza Abd Mutalib, Ho Chien Yee, Sumithira
Narayanasamy, Indira Madhavan
Optometry & Vision Science Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences,
Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur.
INTRODUCTION Inclusion All children with consent form Correlation between refractive error and age
INTRODUCTION
Refractive error has been reported as one of the Criteria B) Relationship between Rx error and age.
primary cause of visual impairment around the globe Exclusion Students without parental consent / Significant difference was found when comparing :
especially myopia among children other than being Criteria incomplete 1) Refractive error Vs age – Kruskal Wallis (P<0.05,
the second leading cause of treatable blindness Non Chinese student p=0.000)
(Dandona 2001). Early detection and treatment of Mixed race parents 2) Correlation between refractive error Vs age – (r=
refractive error in children can minimize or even Absentees -0.143, p<0.05)
prevent its prevalence (Reddy & Hassan 2006). Students who were unfamiliar with
Refractive error prevalence was recorded about 50% alphabets
in Singapore, 17.5% in India and 36.7% in Hong Kong. Students who were sick but present to
school
These varying values of prevalence are attributable Students who were wearing contact
to factors such as study population, measurement lenses
techniques, ethnicity and definition of important
terms such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism
(Hashim et al 2008). ADefinition
total of 2000Myope
children was screened
: SE ≤ -1.00D and DISCUSSION
Refractive error generally has been a major issue in about 182 children were excluded.
Emmetrope : -0.75D < SE < +0.00D
all Asian countries mainly being myopia(Saw et al A) Refractive error Prevalence
Hyperope : SE ≥ +0.25D
2006). In Malaysia, Chong et al (1996) found that Astigmatism : CYL ≤ -1.25DC
37% of Chinese primary schoolchildren from urban Fail screening test : VA (in decimals) ≤
area were myopic. While study by Zainal et al (2002) 0.5 Refractive Error Prevalence
found that 44% of refractive error were left Pass screening test : VA (in decimals) > The prevalence of myopia in the whole population
untreated. 0.5 (n=1818) was 15.1%. Myopia was defined as ≤
It is time to reveal some latest prevalence rate of -1.00D because non cycloplegic autorefraction and
refractive error from the urban area children in Kuala Snellen chart was used in this study. Therefore the
Lumpur. Data analysis SPSS version 20.0;descriptive, t test & prevalence rate in the whole population is smaller.
correlation test However, when we analyzed the children who failed
Objective of this study is to determine the the screening test (n=437) alone, the prevalence of
prevalence rate of myopia among Chinese RESULTS myopia was 57%. This result is higher compared to
schoolchildren in Kuala Lumpur using a non the study by Chung et al (1996).
cycloplegic measurements Astigmatism was affected by only 11.9% of the whole
population but higher among the failed students
reaching up to 24.1%.
Percentage of refractive error in whole population (n =1818)
Myope
15%
Relationship between refractive error and Age
OBJECTIVE Emmetro There was a significant difference between refractive
pe
42%
error and age. The correlation was weak but showed
that higher myopia associated with increasing of age.
Hyperope
43%
The main cause of children failing the screening test
Precentage of refractive error among who failed screening test (n=437) CONCLUSION
was myopia, with high prevalence rate of 57%. There
METHODOLOGY is an increasing trend towards older age group.
Study Design Population based-cross sectional
Emmetrope
38%
Therefore prevention measures is crucial and should
study Myope
57%
be taken to stop such high number of prevalence
among Chinese schoolchildren.
Population target Chinese primary schoolchildren- Hyperope
REFERENCES
5%
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80
70 • Hashim, S.E., Tan, H.K., Wan-Hazabbah, W.H. & Ibrahim, M. 2008. Prevalence of refractive
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Subject 7-12 years Chinese children (both
50
40
24.1 • Saw, S.M., Goh, P.P., Cheng, A., Shankar, A., Tan, D.T. & Ellwein, L.B. 2006. Ethinicity-
genders) 30
20 11.9 Failed Population specific prevalences of refrative errors vary in Asian children in neighbouring Malaysia and
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• Chung, K.M., Norhani, M., Yeow, P.T. & Tan, L.L. 1996. Prevalence of visual disorders in
Sample size n = (z/Δ) x p (1 – p)
2 0

With Astigmatism Without Astigmatism Chinese schoolchildren. Optometry and Vision Science. 73(11): 695-700.
n = 1645 Subjects • Zainal,M., Ismail, S.M., Ropilah, A.R., Elias, H., Arumugam, G., Alias, D., Fathilah, J., Lim,
T.O., Ding, L.M. & Goh, P.P. 2002. Prevalence of blindness and low vision in Malaysian
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Methods 5 Schools chosen – all children 86: 951-956.
were given consent form
screening –VA Snellen) & non-
cyclo autorefraction