The prevalence of visual disorders in Iranian students: A meta-analysis study and systematic review

BACKGROUND: Visual defects have dramatic effects on health, self-esteem, and educational function of students, and delayed diagnosis will cause complications, like academic failure and psychologic disorders. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of ocular disorders in Iranian students in a systematic review. METHODS: We searched databases, including PubMed, SID, Magiran, Google Scholar, and Iranmedex using the following keywords in Persian and English: disorders, vision, amblyopia, refractive errors, astigmatism, student, and Iran with all the possible combinations, important, chief, and sensitive words. Search resulted in 28 articles, conducted during a period from 1996 to 2014 in Iran and their data was analyzed using meta-analysis and random effects model. Heterogeneity of studies was assessed using I2 index, and data was finally analyzed with R Software and STATA (Version 11.2). RESULTS: Total number of subjects in the study was 1,117,274, aged 2 to 18 years. The prevalence of disorders related to amblyopia, refractive error, and strabismus was 8%, 7% and 1%, respectively. The greatest amount of refractive error was related to astigmatism (19%) followed by myopia (17%). CONCLUSION: According to the study results, the prevalence of visual disorders among Iranian students indicated the critical necessity of screening programs for prevention of visual disorders in this age group.