Abstract:

Background: The result of refractive errors is blurred vision, which is sometimes so severe that it causes visual impairment. The four most common refractive errors are: myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia. A cross sectional clinic based study was conducted on magnitude of significant refractive errors among patients attending at BMC Ophthalmology Clinic.

The objective of the study was to determine the magnitude and pattern of significant refractive errors in patients (male and female) attending clinic.

Methods: All patients attending at BMC ophthalmology clinic were examined. A case was defined as a patient with a significant refractive error if the visual acuity during the study period was 6/12 or worse in the better eye with the use of a Snellens chart and was improving with refraction. Objective and subjective refraction was done only in the cases. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total number of 263 patients from rural and urban areas participated in the study. 31.94% of the diagnosis were hyperopia, 36.88% were myopia 7.9% were having astigmatism, 3.4% were having presbyopia and 19.8% other diagnosis like pathological, trauma, lens opacity, glaucoma and cataract. Among all patients myopic one were more than hyperopic one in a different of 5% however the difference was not statistically significant in male and female patients (p-0.349).

Conclusion: Magnitude of significant refractive errors occur among patients attending at BMC ophthalmology clinic. The magnitude of refractive errors is 68.4% in urban areas and 31.6% in rural areas. No statistically significant difference is noted between residency and gender. A large number of patients do not have correction. This applies to both the rural and the urban areas.