Saba Haider Tarar, Waseem Ahmed Khan, Shazia Siddiq, Muhammad Irfan Sadiq, Syeda Marrium Batool, Zain Qayyum.
Prevalence of Myopia in Urban and Rural School Going Pediatric Population in Four Districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;17(4):178-82.

Objective: To assess the Prevalence of myopia in Urban and Rural School going Pediatric Population in District Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli and Pallandri, AJK. Study Design: Cross-sectional Descriptive Study. Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted on school going pediatric Population in District Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli and Pallandri, AJK from 1st March ,2016 to 30th June,2021 Materials and Methods: After taking permission from hospital ethics committee, a community-based study was carried out in both private as well as public sector schools of 04 districts including Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli and Pallandri, AJK after informed consent. After taking consent, data was collected through a self-designed proforma from schools. A team of teachers from each school was trained by conducting workshops to detect visual deficits. The initial screening was carried out at the community level and then the affected children were referred for further examination to Divisional Headquarters Teaching Hospital Mirpur, AJK, Pakistan. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 20. Results: 155,776 children were screened from the schools from 04 districts including both public as well as private schools. 6043 (03.87%) children were found to have refractive error. Among these, 3259 (53.93%) children were myopic. The affected children in Urban Areas were 2070 (63.52Prevalence of myopia was less1419 (43.54%) in Males and higher 1840(56.46%) in Females. Conclusion: School screening programs at the community level can play a significant role in improvement of eye health care. This will also help in treatment of preventable blindness among school going Pediatric population of Pakistan.

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