Prevalence of refractive errors in Tibetan adolescents

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of adolescent eye disease in remote areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has rarely been reported. To understand the prevalence of common eye diseases in Tibet, we performed ocular-disease screening on students from primary and secondary schools in Tibet, and compared the prevalence to that in the Central China Plain (referred to here as the “plains area”). METHODS: The refractive status of students was evaluated with a Spot™ vision screener. The test was conducted three or fewer times for both eyes of each student and results with best correction were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 3246 students from primary and secondary schools in the Tibet Naidong district were screened, yielding a refractive error rate of 28.51%, which was significantly lower than that of the plains group (28.51% vs. 56.92%, p < 0.001). In both groups, the prevalence of refractive errors among females was higher than that among males. CONCLUSIONS: We found that Tibetan adolescents had a lower prevalence of refractive errors than did adolescents in the plains area, which may be related to less intensive schooling and greater exposure to sunlight.