Cargando…

Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Visual impairment is a significant loss of vision. It has an impact on the prosperity of different countries. It has been difficult to plan preventive measures against visual impairment due to the scarcity of data about the extent of the problem. OBJECTIVES: The study was aimed at assess...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bezabih, Lidiya, Abebe, Tilaye Workneh, Fite, Robera Olana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5685140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29184383
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S135011
_version_ 1783278592472383488
author Bezabih, Lidiya
Abebe, Tilaye Workneh
Fite, Robera Olana
author_facet Bezabih, Lidiya
Abebe, Tilaye Workneh
Fite, Robera Olana
author_sort Bezabih, Lidiya
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Visual impairment is a significant loss of vision. It has an impact on the prosperity of different countries. It has been difficult to plan preventive measures against visual impairment due to the scarcity of data about the extent of the problem. OBJECTIVES: The study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and identifying factors associated with visual impairment among school-age children in Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used in four randomly selected schools found in Addis Ababa from May 15 to June 14, 2016. A total of 804 school-age students were selected using the simple random sampling method. Bivariable logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression were conducted. A p-value <0.05 was taken as a significant association. RESULTS: A total of 718 students participated in the study, obtaining a response rate of 89.3%. In all, 7.24% of school-age children were visually impaired, of whom 3.9% had low vision and 3.34% had severe visual impairment. Factors associated with visual impairment were being female (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–3.50), being in the age group of 10–13 years (AOR, 2.94; 95% CI, 1.36–6.22), being in the age group of 14–18 years (AOR, 4.06; 95% CI, 2.17–11.95), being a private school student (AOR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.81–4.41), watching television for 2–4 hours/day (AOR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.37–7.34), watching television at <1 m (AOR, 7.65; 95% CI, 2.59–34.61), watching television at 1–2 m (AOR, 6.89; 95% CI, 1.74–25.27), mobile exposure for 2–4 hours/day (AOR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.35–4.58), mobile exposure for >4 hours/day (AOR, 3.05; 95% CI, 1.41–9.18), medical visit while experiencing symptoms (AOR, 11.32; 95% CI, 1.80–82.25) and no medical visit experience (AOR, 3.84; 95% CI, 0.46–31.76). CONCLUSION: The majority of the visually impaired school-age children had low vision. Sex, age, school type, television exposure duration, the distance of television exposure, mobile exposure and medical visit were factors associated with visual impairment. Increasing community awareness about early detection of visual impairment and providing affordable eye health service may decrease the prevalence of visual impairment.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5685140
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher Dove Medical Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-56851402017-11-28 Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia Bezabih, Lidiya Abebe, Tilaye Workneh Fite, Robera Olana Clin Ophthalmol Original Research BACKGROUND: Visual impairment is a significant loss of vision. It has an impact on the prosperity of different countries. It has been difficult to plan preventive measures against visual impairment due to the scarcity of data about the extent of the problem. OBJECTIVES: The study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and identifying factors associated with visual impairment among school-age children in Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used in four randomly selected schools found in Addis Ababa from May 15 to June 14, 2016. A total of 804 school-age students were selected using the simple random sampling method. Bivariable logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression were conducted. A p-value <0.05 was taken as a significant association. RESULTS: A total of 718 students participated in the study, obtaining a response rate of 89.3%. In all, 7.24% of school-age children were visually impaired, of whom 3.9% had low vision and 3.34% had severe visual impairment. Factors associated with visual impairment were being female (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–3.50), being in the age group of 10–13 years (AOR, 2.94; 95% CI, 1.36–6.22), being in the age group of 14–18 years (AOR, 4.06; 95% CI, 2.17–11.95), being a private school student (AOR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.81–4.41), watching television for 2–4 hours/day (AOR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.37–7.34), watching television at <1 m (AOR, 7.65; 95% CI, 2.59–34.61), watching television at 1–2 m (AOR, 6.89; 95% CI, 1.74–25.27), mobile exposure for 2–4 hours/day (AOR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.35–4.58), mobile exposure for >4 hours/day (AOR, 3.05; 95% CI, 1.41–9.18), medical visit while experiencing symptoms (AOR, 11.32; 95% CI, 1.80–82.25) and no medical visit experience (AOR, 3.84; 95% CI, 0.46–31.76). CONCLUSION: The majority of the visually impaired school-age children had low vision. Sex, age, school type, television exposure duration, the distance of television exposure, mobile exposure and medical visit were factors associated with visual impairment. Increasing community awareness about early detection of visual impairment and providing affordable eye health service may decrease the prevalence of visual impairment. Dove Medical Press 2017-11-06 /pmc/articles/PMC5685140/ /pubmed/29184383 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S135011 Text en © 2017 Bezabih et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Original Research
Bezabih, Lidiya
Abebe, Tilaye Workneh
Fite, Robera Olana
Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title_full Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title_fullStr Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title_short Prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in Ethiopia
title_sort prevalence and factors associated with childhood visual impairment in ethiopia
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5685140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29184383
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S135011
work_keys_str_mv AT bezabihlidiya prevalenceandfactorsassociatedwithchildhoodvisualimpairmentinethiopia
AT abebetilayeworkneh prevalenceandfactorsassociatedwithchildhoodvisualimpairmentinethiopia
AT fiteroberaolana prevalenceandfactorsassociatedwithchildhoodvisualimpairmentinethiopia