Introduction: Uncorrected refractive error contributes to the leading cause of moderate to severe visual impairment. Correction of refractive error in school children will make a dramatic improvement in educational potential and quality of life. We decided to screen college students to study the prevalence of the pattern of refractive error, look out for the newly detected cases and also see the effectiveness of school eye screening programme (SES).

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a Medical College. 193 randomly selected students, aged between 17 to 25 years were examined. Participant’s demographic details and history regarding previous eye checkup, use of glasses, frequency of its change and its power were recorded.  Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were noted. The participants were subjected to non cycloplegic refraction. Refractive error measurements were recorded in sphere, negative cylinder, and cylinder axis format. In our study uncorrected refractive error was defined as people having vision 6/12 or worse, who could achieve a two line improvement in vision after refractive correction. Statistics were analysed using SPSS software version 20.

Results: 69.4% (134) of the participants had refractive error. 66.3% (128) of participants were myopic, 3.1% (6) had astigmatism. Five participants (2.6%) had uncorrected refractive error.

Conclusion: Myopia is the most prevalent refractive error. Continuation of screening for refractive error during admissions in college can complement to SES to reduce the magnitude of uncorrected refractive error.

Keywords: Myopia, Uncorrected refractive error, college students.

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Dr Ramya Chelliah MS

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