Abstract

Introduction: Refractive error is one of the most common cause of visual impairment around the world and the second leading cause of treatable blindness. Hence knowledge of the pattern of refractive errors would be helpful in planning public health strategies. 

Aims and Objectives: To determine the pattern of refractive errors in patients attending the outpatient department of Ophthalmology SKIMS MCH SRINAGAR and to determine the socio-demographic factors such as age and sex, and family history influencing the pattern of refractive errors.

Materials and Methods: The present hospital-based prospective study was conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology SKIMS Medical College. Patients who had refractive error of at least 0.5 D but not having other diseases in the eye responsible for diminished vision were included for the study.

Results: During the study period, 30,444 patients attended the outpatient clinic at the department of ophthalmology. Out of these, 1301 patients were included in the study on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among 1301 patients, 566 (43.50 %) were males and 735 (56.50 %) were females. The age of the patients varied between 1 and 70 years. Overall, myopia was the most common refractive error occurring with a frequency of 47.19% in the study population. This was followed by hypermetropia with a frequency of 22.14%; followed by simple myopic astigmatism (17.83%). Males predominated among myopics and females predominated among hypermetropics. The majority of spherical errors was less than or equal to 2 D. Myopia showed an increasing trend up to the 25 years of age, and then decreased progressively. Hypermetropia decreased from an early childhood peak till about 35years of age and then showed an increasing trend. “Astigmatism against the rule” was more common than “astigmatism with the rule”, irrespective of age.

Conclusion: Refractive errors progressively shift along myopia up to the third decade and change to hypermetropia till the sixth decade. Knowledge of data regarding the pattern of refractive errors may be useful in keeping a ready stock of lenses required to meet the demands of a quick supply of spectacles in the hospital and also for local outreach community programmes.